Graça Simbine Machel: A Psychobiography of an Ultra-Committed Change-Maker and Global Woman Activist

This psychobiography presents life eventsof the contemporary Mozambican South African public political figure and social activist Graça Machel. It reflects her life by exploring her social agency, activism, and identity development, which serve as touchstones for her sense of purpose, educational, gender, and anti-violence activism. The study explores the life through two theoretical lenses: social agency and Erikson’s identity theory. It contributes to building the literature on psychobiography in the context of social justice, change, and identity development with regard to African women activists and leaders. Machel is identified as an ultra-committed change-maker who, throughout her life course, embraced her role as an independent activist, as well as her role as a governmental employee and the First Lady in two countries, Mozambique and South Africa. Machel strongly draws on a powerful sense of generativity that motivatesherto support the vulnerable,such as women and children in Southern Africa.