About Shula Marks
Born 1938. Shula Marks is a South African historian, university teacher, author, journalist and scholar.
Shula Eta Marks, OBE, FBA (born 14 October 1938, in Cape Town) is a South African-British historian and author. She is a emeritus professor of history at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. She has written at least seven books and a WHO monograph on Health and Apartheid, concerning experiences and public health issues in South Africa. Some of her current public health work involves the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS in contemporary South Africa.
She was born Shula Eta Winokur in Cape Town and was educated at the University of Cape Town (BA) and the University of London (PhD). She also holds three honorary doctorates. She is married to Professor Isaac Marks, emeritus professor at King's College London. She has two children: Lara, a historian of medicine, and Raphael, an architect.
Career Lecturer in the history of Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies and SOAS (jointly) 1963β1976 Reader in the history of Southern Africa, 1976β84; Professor of Commonwealth history 1984β93 and Director, 1983β1993, Institute of Commonwealth Studies Hon DLitt, University of Cape Town, 1994 Hon DSocSci, University of Natal, 1996 Professor of history of Southern Africa SOAS 1993β2001 (professor emeritus 2001β, honorary fellow 2005) Douglas Southall Freeman professor, University of Richmond 2005 Hon DLitt et Phil, University of Johannesburg, 2012
Other positions and honours Consultant, World Health Organization, 1977β1980 President, African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK), 1978β1979 Chair, World University Southern African Scholarships Committee, 1981β1992 Council Society for Protection of Science and Learning (now Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA)), 1983β2013 (chair 1993β2004) Governor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 1988β1991 Chair, The International Records Management Trust, 1989β2004 Advisory Council on Public Records, 1989β1994 Governing Body Queen Elizabeth House Oxford, 1991β1994 Commonwealth Scholarships Commission, 1992β1998 Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), 1995 OBE, 1996 7th Annual Bindoff lecture, "Rewriting South African history, or, The hunt for Hintsa's head", Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London), delivered 12 March 1996 Humanities Research Board 1997β98, a Non-Departmental Government Body of the British Research Council Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRB), 1998β2000 Vice-president, Royal African Society, 1999β Distinguished Africanist Award, African Studies Association of the UK, 2002 Trustee, Council Member, Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust, 2004β2014
Publications Reluctant Rebellion: An Assessment of the 1906β08 Disturbance in Natal (1970) Economy and Society in Preindustrial South Africa (edited jointly with Anthony Atmore, 1980) Industrialisation and Social Change in South Africa: African class formation, culture, and consciousness, 1870β1930 (Edited jointly with Richard Rathbone, 1982), London and New York: Longman, 383 pages WHO monograph on Health and Apartheid, co-authored, 1983 Ambiguities of Dependence in South Africa: Class, Nationalism and the State in Twentieth Century Natal (1986) The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in Twentieth Century South Africa (edited jointly with Stanley Trapido, 1987) Not Either an Experimental Doll: The Separate Worlds of Three South African Women (1987) Divided Sisterhood: Race Class and Nationalism in the South African Nursing Profession (1994)
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Important facts
Family & relationships
People in Shula Marks's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Shula Marks's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Shula Marks?
British historian
When was Shula Marks born?
Shula Marks was born on 14 October 1938 in Cape Town.
What is Shula Marks's occupation?
Shula Marks is a historian, university teacher, author, journalist and scholar.
What nationality is Shula Marks?
Shula Marks is South African.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Shula Marks. https://biography.guide/shula-marks/
MLA: "Shula Marks." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/shula-marks/.
Chicago: "Shula Marks." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/shula-marks/.
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