Gegê Leme Joseph is an architect and urbanist (FAUUSP–Brazil), set and production designer (AFDA, South Africa) and museologist (University of Leicester, UK). As Senior Program Manager, she oversees the Coalition’s activities in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Gegê also leads much of the Coalition’s global thematic work, including the Migration Network.

She started her career in culture as a member of J.C. Serroni’s creative atelier, a renowned Brazilian theatre design practice. She moved to South Africa in 2003, where she collaborated on several flagship museum planning and implementation projects, as well as exhibitions and other media experiences for heritage and culture, especially those re-signifying difficult pasts. She developed several projects beyond museums walls such as heritage routes, television shows and publications, for both public and private sectors.

 

In 2013 she started Much | Media and Culture, a consultancy specializing in museums, culture and heritage related to contested histories and legacies, focusing on social impact and change. She is involved in flagship museum projects in Brazil, such as the upcoming Museu da Escravidão e da Liberdade (Museum of Slavery and Freedom) in Rio de Janeiro, and grassroots initiatives such as Museu do Samba.

 

She was a Board Member of ICOM-Brazil until July 2018, and is a Board Member of the Committee for the Collections and Activities of Museums of City of ICOM (CAMOC), where she co-created and runs Migration:Cities – a project aimed at fostering exchange and collaboration between museums dealing with city-making processes involving migrants and refugees in arrival cities.

 

She also develops independent research and writes for international publications in the museum field.

Saths Cooper is immediate Past President of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS), President of the Pan-African Psychology Union (PAPU), Governing Board Member of the International Science Council (ISC), Deputy Chair of the ISC’s Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science, and serves on the Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), chairing its Public Broadcasting Committee. 

A close colleague of the late Steve Biko, he was banned and house-arrested when he was 22 years of age, and jailed for nine years.  He was the first accused in the seminal SASO/BPC trial in Pretoria (Jan 1975-Dec 1976), spending over five years in Robben Island in the same cell-block as former President Mandela, and in 1998 was declared a ‘victim of gross human rights violations’ by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Nobel Laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. 

Obtaining his PhD in Clinical/Community Psychology from Boston University as a Fulbright scholar in 1989, he has been the recipient of many citations and awards, such as the IUPsyS Inaugural Achievement Against the Odds Award (2012), the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology (2014) and the Inaugural Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) Presidential Merit Award Honoring Outstanding Achievement in Psychology. He is a Fellow of the South African, Indian, British and Irish psychological societies. 

A Clinical Psychologist for over 30 years, Cooper was Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Durban-Westville (merged in the University of KwaZulu/Natal), and is Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria and Honorary Professor at the University of Johannesburg.  He is in the leadership of the 70s Group of activists from the seminal 1970s period, which is anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-sectarian.

Bokang is currently the senior Programme Manager at the Steve Biko Foundation and is based in Johannesburg, Gauteng and Qonce in the Eastern Cape Province.

Prior to joining the Steve Biko Foundation, she worked at the British Council as a Project Manager in the areas of Community Development; Basic Education; Further Education and Training; Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.  Her roles have equipped her with training in Financial Management, Impact Assessment and Strategic Communication.  

She volunteered at the Steve Biko Centre and developed monitoring and evaluation systems for the Arts and Culture; Dialogue; and Education Programmes.  Bokang became a full time staff member supporting the Resource Mobilisation department and would later lead the Programmes Department. She is most proud of her contribution to streamlining administrative processes and building the necessary strategic partnerships for the Foundation’s success.

In 2019, Bokang was selected to participate in the US Embassy’s International Visitors Leadership Programme for emerging leaders in the Non Profit Sector.  The experience further solidified her interest in developing sustainable communities through various interventions. 

Bokang studied towards an Accounting degree at the University of Johannesburg.  She has completed courses in Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Strategic Communication.  She is currently studying towards a Digital Communication Strategy certificate.

How can we "socialize" and go for a "cohesive society" if the production is socialized while its results are legally turned to profits and privatized?

- This needs to be constantly pointed out to socialize profit gains at our expense. During the pandemic, billionaires have been created out of our fears. In a post-covid world, we should create the basis for a more compassionate world.

The poor white narrative and how is influencing politics
- people are consumed with their sense of own- survival. When they see a saviour, they follow it. We need to unpack all these dynamics. It requires changing our education system, teaching that external representations mean nothing, we all have the same ingredients. Respect starts with self and continues with the rest.