Recipient of the 2024 Templeton Prize, clinical psychologist, author and academic Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela was honoured at a special celebration this week for her exemplary contributions to scholarship and advancing knowledge in the field of forgiveness and processes of repair in the aftermath of trauma violence. Picture: Leon Lestrade/Independent Newspapers
Stellenbosch University (SU) honoured renowned clinical psychologist, Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, with the prestigious 2024 Templeton Prize for her significant contributions to understanding human resilience and reconciliation.
The university celebrated Gobodo-Madikizela at a special event on Wednesday.
Established in 1972 by Sir John Templeton, the Templeton Prize recognizes those who harness the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions about the universe and humankind's place and purpose within it.
Gobodo-Madikizela expressed her gratitude to the university.
“I began to realise that it is a celebration, and what made it easy for me was to think of it as a collective celebration and not just of me and my work.
“It is an award that is in my name, but Stellenbosch has made it possible, it is this intellectual home that made it possible, and I’m grateful,” she said.
Receiving the Templeton Prize places Gobodo-Madikizela alongside distinguished individuals including the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Gobodo-Madikizela holds the South African Research Chair (SARChI) for Violent Histories and Transgenerational Trauma and is the founding director of the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest (AVReQ) at SU.
She is renowned for her concept of “the reparative quest,” a process that seeks to repair the ruptures caused by past violence.
She received the Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award in 2020 and is a Fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute.
Gobodo-Madikizela also played a significant role as a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Heather Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation, emphasised that Gobodo-Madikizela's work positions her as a key figure in exploring the psychological effects of loss and trauma.
“Building on her personal experience about the reality of apartheid in South Africa, she pursued a set of fundamental questions, why do people forgive, especially when they have experienced trauma and loss,” she said.
Dill said Gobodo-Madikizela was the 54th recipient of the Templeton Prize.
SU rector and vice-chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers extended his congratulations to Gobodo-Madikizela for the remarkable achievement.
“We honour not just the scholarly contributions but the spirit of hope, resilience, and compassion that she embodies,” he said.
Gobodo-Madikizela has committed to donating R8 million to the university, which will be used to establish an endowment scholarship in honour of her parents, Nobantu and Tukela Gobodo, as well as to support the Research and Innovation Strategic Excellence programme and AVReQ.
Cape Times