Prof Gqola, who was appointed to the University’s Centre for Women and Gender Studies (CWGS) this year, is an accomplished academic, gender scholar and activist and award-winning feminist author.
Her lecture, hosted by the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, is titled Patriarchal Violence and the Inadequacy of Condemnations.
The lecture is the second instalment of the Tambo Foundation’s 10th anniversary lecture series, which celebrates a decade of thought leadership, following highly acclaimed intellectual and author, Prof Mahmood Mamdani. The series ends off with a lecture by former Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete on 30 November 2020.
Prof Gqola’s career in the South African academy is one of excellence and forms a canon in the study of African Feminism today.
She joins a host of acclaimed South Africans, who have previously presented the annual lecture, including former President Kgalema Motlanthe and former panellists Dr Brigalia Bam and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
Prof Gqola’s work focuses on literature, with specific focus on African Feminism, African literature, race, class and gender, and histories of slavery. By the end of this year, she would have authored six monographs, and edited five special issues of journals and magazines.
She is a feminist scholar of great repute and standing in South Africa, Africa and the world, with more than 35 accredited research outputs and book chapters. She has also graduated a number of postgraduate students in African Feminist studies.
She holds a PhD (magna cum laude) in Post-Colonial Studies from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in Germany and an MA (cum laude) in Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.
Last year, she was appointed to the DHET Ministerial Task Team to advise on matters relating to sexual harassment and gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa’s public universities.
She is a product of the deep intellectual histories of the Eastern Cape, growing up in a family of intellectuals inside the University of Fort Hare, Alice Campus, to become the Dean of Research in the same University in 2018.
Her contribution to Mandela University has been quite impactful, with her appointment coming at a critical time in the African academy, where feminist scholarship bears the mammoth task of responding to the wide-ranging challenges facing women and children in society.
“In appointing such a leading African Feminist scholar, the Centre seeks to ensure collaborations within the region, promote interdisciplinary studies and attract high quality postgraduate students to contribute to building an African Feminist hub in the Eastern Cape,” CWGS Interim Director, Dr Babalwa Magoqwana, said at the time of her appointment.
“Through her appointment, we hope to strengthen the University’s project on ‘Revitalising the Humanities’ in service to society.”
The lecture will be streamed live on YouTube and on SABC Channel 404 from 18:00 to 20:00.