Senior Scholars' Series - September 14, 2021

Kogila Adam-Moodley
Professor Emerita of Educational Studies (2006)

Kogila Moodley was born in South Africa. Her first degree, majoring in Sociology and English, was from the University of Natal, followed by graduate studies in Michigan and doctoral work in Sociology at UBC where she graduated with a PHD. Prior to coming to Canada, she held an Academic Exchange Fellowship from the DAAD, for six months in Germany. She is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, where she has taught since 1977. She was the first holder of the David Lam Chair in Multiculturalism. She has served as President of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations (RC05), and on the editorial board of several journals, including Ethnic and Racial Studies (London).  Her research has been on xenophobia, political education and comparative multiculturalism.

Her co-authored and authored books include South Africa Without Apartheid ,(with Heribert Adam) University of California Press, 1986; Beyond Multicultural Education, Detselig, 1992; The Opening of the Apartheid Mind, (with Heribert Adam) University of California Press,1993; Comrades in Business: Post Liberation Politics in South Africa (with Heribert Adam and F. van Zyl Slabbert) Tafelberg,1997; Seeking Mandela: Peacemaking Between Israelis and Palestinians.(with Heribert Adam) Temple University Press, 2005. During her tenure as a Fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, she published with Heribert Adam: Imagined Liberation: Xenophobia, Identity and Citizenship in South Africa, Germany and Canada. Temple University Press, 2015. Her most recent book, is: Race, Culture and Politics in Education. A Global Journey from South Africa. TCP, Columbia University Press, 2020.

"In this presentation I recount stories and episodes from my journey as an Indian South African from Apartheid South Africa- via Germany, the United States, and Egypt - to Canada our home since 1968. I draw upon my book, Race, Culture and Politics in Education (2020) New York: TCP, Columbia University Press, which portrays my personal encounters with intergroup conflicts in five societies. Reflecting on my involvement during research and teaching has taught me many lessons about the advantages of confronting injustices directly as well as combatting barriers through a variety of means. I highlight political literacy as a precondition for overcoming injustices. In my experience effective political education depends upon the socio-political context of each situation. A nuanced understanding of racialism extends beyond the mere inclusion of underrepresented minorities. I hope that my stories and experiences challenge conventional wisdom."

Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe - moderator
Professor Emeritus of Art History, Visual Art and Theory (2015)

Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe graduated from the Courtauld Institute and taught for the Open University, and at London and McGill Universities before joining UBC. He chaired the ISGP and then his home department, Art History Visual Art & Theory before serving as Associate Dean, Awards and Scholarships, in the Faculty of Graduate Studies; a member of Senate for several years he was twice elected co-Chair. He has published extensively on art, architectural and design history with a particular interest in related social and political culture especially of the later modern era; recipient of the Vancouver Book Prize, he was awarded a J.S Guggenheim Fellowship  and a Visiting Fellowship at Clare Hall in Cambridge University. He is currently completing a re-assessment of the architecture and ideology of Arthur Erickson and, also with Michelangelo Sabatino, a multi-perspective anthology on Modernist architecture in the Commonwealth of Nations.