Sarah Setlaelo

Dr. Sarah Setlaelo is a writer and academic with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Setlaelo was a recipient of the Harvard South Africa Fellowship (2024/2025), from the Harvard University Center for African Studies, as a visiting fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She specializes in political, social, feminist and comparative philosophy; gender and race; ethics and aesthetics. Recently, she was the guest editor of a South African Journal of Philosophy (2025, Volume 44, Issue 3) special issue on the thought and works of South African philosopher, Mabogo Percy More. Setlaelo additionally holds qualifications in African Feminist and Gender Studies from the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI), and the Advanced Course in Thought Leadership for Africa’s Renewal from the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs (TM-School). Her current research and writing projects include a scholarly study of African and African Diaspora political leadership, based on the concept “African Philosopher Kings & Queens”. Setlaelo has also recently completed a literary fiction philosophical novel, which is a political thriller on feminist political leadership. Her contributions to public philosophy include thought pieces and op-eds on gender, race and politics, for South African media platforms, Mail & Guardian, News24, and Daily Maverick, as well as the American Philosophical Association Blog (APA Blog).