Belinda Bozzoli (1945-2020)

Belinda Bozzoli was born in Johannesburg in December 1945. After graduating with a BA in political science and geography and BA Honours in African Studies (first class) at Witwatersrand University, she studied for an MA in African Studies and Political Science and a DPhil at the University of Sussex. Her thesis title was ‘The roots of hegemony: ideology, interests and the legitimation of South African capitalism, 1890-1940’. Together with her husband, the historian Charles van Onselen, she returned to South Africa, where she took up a lectureship in sociology at Witwatersrand. She was successively promoted to professor, head of the department of sociology and head of the school of social sciences. In 2003 she became deputy vice-chancellor of research, and subsequently chair of the National Research Foundation Board. An energetic teaching career was interspersed with fellowships at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

Business · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · South African History and Culture