Colin James Bundy (born 4 October 1944) is a South African historian, former principal of

Green Templeton College, Oxford Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the previous Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford an ...

and former director of

SOAS University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

. Bundy was an influential member of a generation of historians who substantially revised understanding of South African history. In particular, he wrote on South Africa's rural past from a predominantly Marxist perspective, but also deploying Africanist and

underdevelopment Underdevelopment, in the context of international development, reflects a broad condition or phenomena defined and critiqued by theorists in fields such as economics, development studies, and postcolonial studies. Used primarily to distinguish sta ...

theories. Since the mid-1990s, however, Bundy has held a series of posts in university administration. Bundy is also a trustee of the Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust.

Education

He received his

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

Graeme College Graeme College is a public English medium high school for boys located in Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It caters for boys from Grade 00 to Grade 12 and offers both boarding and day options to its pupils. ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana ...

in the

Eastern Cape Province The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in 199 ...

. Bundy was educated at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

(B.A.) and the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

(B.A. (Hons)). He was then a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford (1968–70) and a

Beit A Beit (also spelled bait, ar, بيت , literally "a house") is a metrical unit of Arabic, Iranian, Urdu and Sindhi poetry. It corresponds to a line, though sometimes improperly renderered as " couplet" since each ''beit'' is divided int ...

Senior Research Scholar at St Antony's (1970–72), graduating as an M.Phil. and D.Phil. of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

with a thesis entitled

Career

Bundy was director and principal of the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

(2001–06); deputy vice-chancellor of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(2003–06); vice-chancellor and principal of the

(1997-2001); and director of the Institute for Historical Research (1992–94) and vice-rector (1994-97),

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

. He returned to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

as a research fellow at

Queen Elizabeth House Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

(1979–80) and in the Department for External Studies (1980–84), subsequently being elected an honorary fellow of

Kellogg College Kellogg College is a graduate-only constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1990 as Rewley House, Kellogg is the university's 36th college and the largest by number of students. It hosts research centres including ...

. From 2006 until 2008 he was

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

of Green College, Oxford, becoming the first principal of

Green Templeton College Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the previous Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford and ...

on 1 October 2008, when Green College merged with Templeton College. He retired from this position on 1 October 2010. National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1149/14) with Colin Bundy in 2010 for its Oral History of Oral History collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Bundy, Colin (1 of 4) National Life Stories Collection: Oral History of Oral History', The British Library Board, 2010
Retrieved 9 October 2017 He is an Honorary Fellow of

St Edmund's College, Cambridge St Edmund's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. Founded in 1896, it is the second-oldest of the four Cambridge colleges oriented to mature students, which accept only students reading for postgraduate degr ...

Publications

His publications include: * * * ''Remaking the Past: New Perspectives in South African History'' (Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 1987) * (with William Beinart) * *

References

External links

Guardian profile, 2004

Talk by Bundy on Globalisation and universities, 1999

Article by Bundy on truth and reconciliation in South Africa, 1999
* Two-part video of Professor Bundy discussing the implications of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the prospects for global Marxist revolution ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundy, Colin 1944 births University of Natal alumni University of the Witwatersrand alumni Alumni of Merton College, Oxford South African emigrants to the United Kingdom People associated with SOAS University of London People associated with the University of London Living people South African historians Marxist historians South African Marxists University of the Western Cape faculty South African Rhodes Scholars Alumni of Graeme College Academics of the University of Oxford Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford 20th-century South African historians Wardens of Green College, Oxford Principals of Green Templeton College, Oxford Historians of South Africa Vice-Chancellors of the University of the Witwatersrand 21st-century English historians