Current Research Project

Analysis of Transgenerational Trauma in Families of the Cradock Four

This PhD thesis is an exploration of the intergenerational narratives of the political victims whose husbands and fathers, Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli, Sparrow Mkhonto, known as the Cradock Four, were brutally murdered during the apartheid era. Dorothy, clinical psychologist by profession, firstborn daughter of Fort Calata, one of the slain Cradock Four, aims to revisit the narratives of the lived experiences of these family members. She aims to understand their interpretation and meaning making of unending political widowhood and political orphanhood of a publicised political death. Her interests are in intergenerational transmission of trauma, memory, violence, social justice, in transitional (post conflict) states. She also wants to understand how these family members interpret their role of being interlocutors in these states.

Supervisor: Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Email: dcalata@sun.ac.za | Tel: +27 (21) 808 4047