The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) Annual Humanities Lecture will take place on 20 September 2018 in Cape Town. The lecture, entitled Intergenerational Trauma, Past and Present: Why the Internal Worlds of Black Lives Matter, will be delivered by Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and is aimed at promoting the importance of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the country. 

Gobodo-Madikizela is Professor and Research Chair in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University. She has been Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Cape Town, and Senior Research Professor at the University of the Free State leading the Trauma, Memory and Forgiveness Research Initiative. Her interests focus mainly on two strands of research. The first is exploring ways in which the impact of the dehumanising experiences of oppression and violent abuse continues to play out in the next generation in the aftermath of historical trauma. For her second research area, she expands her earlier work on remorse and forgiveness and probes the role of empathy more deeply. 

The lecture will be co-hosted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). At the same time, the ASSAf Humanities Book Award and the HSRC Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities will be presented.