Pursuit of justice rewarded with honorary doctoral degree

AUCKLAND PARK – Canadian professor receives an honorary doctorate for his academic work and activism.

April 18, 2016

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Professor at Toronto's York University, Prof John Saul, is a devote scholar and dedicates a central part of his work to the social science of South Africa and beyond. Photo supplied.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) awarded an honorary doctoral degree to a Canadian political economist and activist, Professor John Shannon Saul, whose work focused on the liberation struggles of southern Africa, from the 1960s to the present.

Saul received a UJ faculty of humanities honorary degree, Doctor Honoris Causa Philosophiae, on 13 April for demonstrating commitment to academic excellence in pursuit of social justice. This honorary degree is in recognition of the remarkable contribution he has made to social science in South Africa and the wider region.

According to UJ’s Prof David Moore, head of department of faculty of humanities – department of anthropology and development studies, “Professor Saul has devoted most of his adult and academic life to scholarly solidarity with the liberation struggles in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, in their anti-colonial stages and now when the promises of liberation are in the process of fulfillment.

“By granting Professor Saul this honorary doctorate, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is recognising his decades of commitment towards the attainment of full freedom in southern Africa, the legacy of his academic acuity, and signifying the inextricable link between our commitment to social justice and the academic excellence needed to pursue that end,” Moore added.

Saul said, “This is an especially great honour for me because the support for Southern Africa liberation has for so long been such a central part of my academic and activist life that I see this doctoral degree from the University of Johannesburg within a free South Africa as both personally and politically extremely fulfilling.”

Saul is a professor in the department of political science at Toronto’s York University. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Victoria University College in the University of Toronto. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient of the Canadian Association of African Studies’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Details: University of Johannesburg, 011 559 4555.