Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela has done it again. She has succeeded in writing yet another book that critics herald as “lucid and compelling”, “of striking moral intelligence” and “as fresh as ever.” Her book, Dare we Hope? Facing our Past to find a New Future, rekindles our hope as South Africans and will be released on 7 July 2014.
In this book, Prof Gobodo-Madikizela explores what she calls the “unfinished business,” Afrikaner rage, why apologies are not enough, and the crisis of moral leadership in politics. Yet, in the face of all this, she shows the way to healing a wounded South African nation.
Prof Gobodo-Madikizela is a Senior Research Professor in Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies at the UFS. Her research has made huge inroads into the reparative elements of victims-perpetrator dialogue in the aftermath of mass trauma and violence. She has served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and spent an extended period at Harvard University.
Her latest book follows on her hugely-successful title, A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness. For that book, she won the Alan Paton Award in South Africa, and the prestigious Christopher Award in the United States.