Bio

Ithabeleng Mokoena is an emerging Environmental and Social History scholar and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in the Department of History at Rhodes University, South Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies and Environmental History and a Master of Arts in African History, both from the National University of Lesotho. Her research experience includes archival research, work in Environmental Impact Assessment-related projects and conducting oral history interviews within community-based research context. Her academic work is grounded in interdisciplinary and decolonial approaches, with a particular emphasis on “history from below” and the recovery of local and marginalized narratives in Lesotho’s historical record. She has a strong research interest in resource governance, land relations, and the socio-political dimensions of environmental change. Her work contributes to broader scholarly debates in African Environmental History; particularly those concerned with lived experience, extractive economies, and historically informed approaches to environmental governance.