A Life - Tapa blanda

Reseña del editor

By any standard Mamphela Ramphele's life has been remarkable. A black South African woman, she has triumphed over numerous constraints and come to occupy a unique position in society. She has lived the struggle against apartheid intensely and has been involved in the work of transformation, as Chairperson of Independent Development Trust, Director of IDASA's Public Information Centre, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Managing Director of the World Bank, and serving in various community organisations. For her courage and integrity of purpose in crossing conventional boundaries, she is respected and admired both in her own country and abroad. In this powerful and fascinating autobiography, Ramphele tells the story of her personal and political growth. A hardy spirit brought up in the northern Transvaal, she set her sights on becoming a doctor and entered the University of Natal Medical School. Here she was drawn into the circle of activists centred on Steve Biko, whose colleague and lover she became. Ramphele was one of the first Black Consciousness members to be detained and then banned to a remote part of the Transvaal. Here in banishment, pregnant with his child, she learned of Biko's death in detention. Her determination to survive carried her through. In the early 1980s Ramphele's banning order was lifted and new possibilities arose. From activist she made the move to academic and author; from doctor to anthropologist and university administrator. In all this she has built on her strengths and abiding concern for the development of the individual and society. With honesty she describes too, the demands of her public role and her need to deal with the wounds inflicted by personal losses. Just as her country has to come to terms with its past, so Dr Ramphele acknowledges the need for personal healing. Her recent political venture and continued involvement in civil society movements confirm her staying power and strength of courage.