Prof Puleng Segalo
Title: Reweaving our fragmented selves: towards decolonial love
Puleng Segalo is a Fulbright scholar, National Research Foundation rated researcher, and a professor of psychology currently holding the position of Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Her areas of specialization include Africa-centered psychology, gender and trauma, and decolonial feminism in psychology. Her research focuses on historical trauma, visual methodologies, and gendered suffering.
Prof Segalo is the 2023 recipient of the UNISA Chancellor award for excellence in research. In 2014, she received the Women in Science Awards (WISA): Distinguished Young Woman in Science and in 2023 became the first runner up for the distinguished established woman researcher category of the Women in Science Awards. Segalo gained South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) membership in 2016. Further, Segalo was the recipient of the 2021 World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Regional Award for Public Understanding and Popularisation of Science.
She is currently the 2023-2025 research fellow at the University of Kansas’ African Studies Center and the 2023 research fellow at the University of Ghana’s Institute for African Studies. Segalo has recently (May 2023) been named the Graduate Center, City University of New York Alumni of the decade – and was recognised with a golden award for her contribution in social justice scholarship. Segalo has published widely both nationally and internationally; she is the associate editor of the Journal of Social and Political Psychology, and a board member of the Journal of Feminism and Psychology. Her passion lies in mentoring and capacity building – she currently supervises master and doctoral students, and mentors post-doctoral fellows. Puleng is a daughter, sister and rakgadi of many children.
