Alan Kirkaldy
Alan Kirkaldy is an emeritus professor and the former head of the History Department at Rhodes University. His main research interests include environmental justice, mission history, the history of the South African Communist Party and queer histories. Since retiring from Rhodes, he has retrained as a mediator. Having refined the skills learned during many years of trade union work, he is now a partner in a mediation practice. He enjoys martial arts, making knives and spending time in the veld and game reserves. He has just started work on a book on rewilding the Eastern Cape.
In conversation with Alan Kirkaldy, author of Everyday communists in South Africa’s liberation struggle
2025-06-02Alan Kirkaldy, recently retired from Rhodes University in Makhanda, was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Book Award at the 2025 graduation ceremony for his work Everyday communists in South Africa's liberation struggle. The lives of Ivan and Lesley Schermbrucker.
Lucky bastard by Anthony Akerman: a review
2025-02-13"I felt it important to present an alternative version to the highly readable one he so strongly portrays. We are all different and our experiences of, and reactions to, similar circumstances can differ widely. That said, this is probably the best book that I have read in a long time."
Apartheid’s Stalingrad by Rory Riordan: a book review
2023-05-10"When I received the book for review, my first reaction was, 'It’s far too long'. However, once I started reading, I struggled to put it down."