This intriguing memoir details in a quiet and restrained manner with
what it meant to be a committed black intellectual activist during the
apartheid years and beyond. Few autobiographies exploring the 'life of
the mind' and the 'history of ideas' have come out of South Africa, and
N Chabani Manganyi's reflections on a life engaged with ideas, the
psychological and philosophical workings of the mind and the act of
writing are a refreshing addition to the genre of life writing. Starting
with his rural upbringing in Mavambe, Limpopo, in the 1940s, Manganyi's
life story unfolds at a gentle pace, tracing the twists and turns of his
journey from humble beginnings to Yale University in the USA. The author
details his work as a clinical practitioner and researcher, as a
biographer, as an expert witness in defence of opponents of the
apartheid regime and, finally, as a leading educationist in Mandela's
Cabinet and in the South African academy.
Apartheid and the Making of a Black Psychologist is a book about
relationships and the fruits of intellectual and creative labour.
Manganyi describes how he used his skills as a clinical psychologist to
explore lives - both those of the subjects of his biographies and those
of the accused for whom he testified in mitigation; his aim always to
find a higher purpose and a higher self.
