The Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS) is excited to welcome IGHS Scholar in Residence Mamphela Ramphele, MBChB, PhD, to join us and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences for a Distinguished Visiting Professorship. Ramphele is a renowned South African anti-apartheid activist, political leader, physician, and academic.
Ramphele will spend the next year at IGHS working on research for a book that seeks to understand the persistent legacy of intergenerational trauma in South Africa, across the African continent, and the world. It will dive into the history of colonialism in Africa, the bodies of knowledge that were stolen and destroyed, and how the next generation of Africans can unravel colonial ways of thinking. It also invites the rest of the world to embrace our common heritage from Africa, the cradle of humanity and of the first civilization.
Mamphela Ramphele co-founded the Black Consciousness Movement alongside Steve Biko and was the first African and the first woman to serve as vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town in 1996. She was also the first African managing director at the World Bank, focusing on human development. Ramphele went to medical school in South Africa in 1968, where she had her start in activism, founding the Black Consciousness Movement that identified psycho-social liberation as a prerequisite of true emancipation of a people. She was detained under the Terrorism Act and banned to Tzaneen in Northern Transvaal from 1977 to 1983. She earned a B Com degree and Diplomas in Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, and a PhD in Social Anthropology. Ramphele has held multiple leadership positions, including co-president of The Club of Rome. She has received national and international awards for her scholarship and leadership on projects for marginalized people in South Africa and beyond.
Ramphele has written several books and publications on post-apartheid challenges and social development in South Africa, including A Passion for Freedom, Laying Ghosts to Rest, Conversations with my sons and Daughters, and Dreams, Betrayal and Hope. Her next book will examine the legacy of colonialism in Africa and investigate what lessons can be learned from countries that have made bold moves away from colonial influences. South Africa, she says, is one of the countries that have yet to overcome this legacy.
“This book has been brewing for at least five years,” said Ramphele. She has spent much of her life and career championing a better future for South Africans and her research will continue this trajectory, exploring how the country can move toward a more egalitarian society beyond racism or sexism. She believes a first step in this direction is freeing the mind from these concepts by going back to what was lost when Africa was colonized, including the wealth of knowledge in Africa’s ancient intellectual property that was stolen.
Some of her inspiration is from George G.M. James’ Stolen Legacy, which challenges the notion that philosophy started in Greece, but rather that much of what we think of as Greek philosophy was learned from ancient Africans. There are many examples like this that remain unexplored. “Western philosophy, based on separating mind, spirit, and body, continues to underpin extractive mindsets that fuel the iniquitous global economic system today. Structural inequalities and planetary emergencies are preventing people in most of the world from reaching their full potential. The very future of our planet is at risk of unsustainability under the current global money and power system.” said Ramphele.
According to Ramphele, true freedom in South Africa, and much of Africa will only be realized when the unfinished business of healing intergenerational trauma is addressed and the potential of every citizen is realized. This book, she says, is for the next generation of Africans.
Over the next year, Ramphele will visit several countries in Africa, including Botswana and Namibia, whose policies she feels South Africa and others could learn from. Botswana, for example, has been gaining more control over the mining, processing, and selling of diamonds, the country’s biggest export, for the benefit of Batswana. Botswana also offers free education to all its citizens. It is also noteworthy that Botswana is increasingly being led by young people, as evidenced by President Duma Boko.
While in San Francisco, Ramphele is also excited to spend time at IGHS. She is especially interested in IGHS’ work with students, both in graduate programs and in high school. She noted that the high school program is particularly innovative and will help broaden horizons for the next generation. She will be working with a PhD student to help conduct her research. She will be speaking at multiple IGHS events and seminars to share her experiences, wisdom, and belief that a better future is possible if we, as a society, can learn from the past and learn to accept each other for who we are.
IGHS would like to express their gratitude for the generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Harvey Feinberg.