Lungisile Ntsebeza: a community-engaged scholar in the struggle to build the voice and agency of the rural poor

Abstract

The article reflects on Lungisile Ntsebeza’s academic work and is informed by the authors’ close political and academic association with Ntsebeza. It traces his development from his birthplace in Cala, one of the centres of missionary education and a hotbed for political activism, which drew his attention early to politics. However, the promotion of learning by his educationist and middle-class parents, together with his early introduction to Marxist politics, moulded Ntsebeza into a serious reader. His Marxist training influenced his belief in the importance of the agency of marginalised people in society and his development into the community-engaged and world-renowned scholar he has become.