30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's return: A lecture by Nobel Peace laureate Lemayah Gbowee
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's 11 February 1990 return the Nelson Mandela Foundation presented a public lecture by 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, followed by a panel discussion between Gbowee, US civil rights activist Opal Tometi and Danai Mupotsa, a is senior lecturer in the Department of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Read the women's biographies below.
Liberian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee
2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is the Founder and current President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (GPFA). She also currently serves as the Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York, USA.
She is the Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa and a Founding Member and former Liberia Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network.
Madam Gbowee currently serves as a Member of the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development; Sustainable Development Goals Advocate for the United Nations (UN) and on the UN High Level Advisory Board on Mediation.
She is a Member of the World Refugee Council; African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning; International Honorary Committee of the Global Biosphere Institute; Aurora Prize Selection Committee and the Business for Peace Awards Committee.
She was recently appointed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to serve as a member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council of the G7.
She holds a M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA), and three Doctor of Laws (LLD) honoris causa degrees, from Rhodes University in South Africa, Dartmouth College USA, Polytechnic University Mozambique and University of Alberta in Canada.
After receiving the Barnard College Medal of Distinction, Madam Gbowee was named as a Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice and a Visiting Transnational Fellow at the Center for Research and Leadership Studies at Barnard College for the 2013/2014 academic year. From 2014 – 2016, She was appointed Distinguished Activist in Residence Union Theological Seminary.
She is married to Mr Jay Kesselee Fatormah and is the proud mother of eight wonderful children. Madam Gbowee is a Christian and proudly calls herself a “Daughter of Glorious Jesus”
Opal Tometi
Opal Tometi
(Image: Supplied)Opal Tometi is an internationally recognised voice for human rights and social justice. Hailed as a new civil rights leader by both the grassroots margins and major media organisations such as CNN and the Los Angeles Times, she is respected for her track record in uniting communities, and is known for her thought leadership on race, immigration, and gender issues.
Tometi is one of three black women who co-founded the #BlackLivesMatter movement, digital platform, and chapter-based network. In early 2019 she completed nearly a decade of service as the Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the first immigrant rights organisation for people of African descent in the United States.
The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Tometi is also a trusted advisor to many formations, including Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity and the Andrew Goodman Foundation. She has received numerous recognitions including an honorary PhD, and was named among the 50 Most Influential People by Forbes, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan magazines.
Tometi was also honoured by the City University of New York with a scholarship in her name to support immigrant students pursuing law degrees. Her most recent achievements include winning the 2019 Coretta Scott King Center and Douglass 200 Awards, and being featured in a video installation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum for African History and Culture for her contributions in thought leadership to the betterment of the diaspora.
Here she is at the 6 December 2018 Nelson Mandela Tribute:
Danai Mupotsa
Danai Mupotsa
(Image: Supplied)Danai Mupotsa is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand. She describes herself as a feminist teacher and researcher.
In 2018, she published her debut collection of poetry, Feeling and Ugly with Impepho Press. Her work specialises in a range of subjects that include gender and sexualities, black intellectual traditions and histories, intimacy and affect, popular culture, and feminist pedagogies.
Mupotsa is a member of the editorial collective of Agenda, and on the executive board of the International Girlhood Studies Association. She is also on the editorial board of the new Brill series in youth cultures.