Ramphele, Mamphela (1947–)
Ramphele, Mamphela (1947–)
South African doctor, anthropologist, educator, and activist. Born Dec 28, 1947, near Pietersburg, South Africa, to rural schoolteachers; qualified in medicine at University of Natal in 1972; University of Cape Town, Ph.D. in social anthropology, 1991; University of South Africa, BCom in administration; married and div.; children: (with Steven Biko) son Hlumelo; and later son Malusi.
While in medical school, joined Steven Biko's Black Consciousness Movement; founded Zanempilo Health Clinic at King William's Town through auspices of Black Community Programmes (1975); was arrested and, without trial, banned to a far corner of the Transvaal (1977), where she continued to work as a doctor; founded another health clinic, the Ithuseng Community Health Program, while still in detention at Trichardsdal; wrote about Biko and their relationship in Mamphela Ramphele—A Life (published in US as Across Boundaries); with banning order lifted (1983), became a research fellow at University of Cape Town (1986), then deputy vice-chancellor (1991) and vice-chancellor (1996), the 1st black woman to be appointed to such a post in South Africa; left University of Cape Town to become the 2nd woman managing director at the World Bank (2000).
See also autobiography Across Boundaries: The Journey of a South African Woman Leader (Feminist Press, 1997); and Women in World History.