Lebohang Liepollo Pheko is an activist scholar, public intellectual, international movement builder, a sister, a daughter, a partner, a parent, a neighbour and is daily striving to be a good ancestor. Pheko’s work is grounded in intersectional race, class and feminist analysis and she is committed to grounding academic research in community struggles & praxis.
In recent years, she has substantially contributed to framing policy alternatives that centre African countries in post-COVID economic recovery. She is also a member of the Walter and Patricia Rodney Commission on Reparations and is the leading South African chapter on the political economy of reparations. Furthermore, Pheko is currently reassessing Wellbeing Economics, Feminist Wellbeing Economics and the interaction of Feminist Economics with decoloniality and decolonial economic theories. She has completed several significant studies in this regard in recent years, examining South Africa, Malawi, Vietnam and Indonesia. She has contributed to over 100 global conferences and delivered several papers at those fora.
Pheko is the Senior Research Fellow at an advocacy think tank – Trade Collective and has taught International Trade, Afrikan Feminist Theory, International Development, Political Economy, Political theory and Race and Decolonial studies at institutions in the UK, the US, Sweden, Germany and several South African universities. She is also an ambassador of the Well Being Economy Global Alliance, member of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, an African Futures Fellow and a member of South Feminist Futures. Pheko is a sought-after international speaker, media commentator, process facilitator and technical adviser and has lived and worked across 46 countries to date. During the 25th hour of the day, she takes slow jogs and long hikes, listens to healing music across genres, reads poems, and pursues the elusive art of stillness.
