Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel is a political scientist whose interest in international politics led to her doctoral degree in 2012. As a scholar with a pronounced regional expertise she has professionally spoken, taught and conducted research around the world. She is currently a Professor in Peace and Development Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Prior to this, she held the Chair for International Gender Politics at the University of Kassel, was an Interim Professor in Political Studies at Giessen University, worked at Goethe University Frankfurt and was a Guest Professor of International Development at the University of Vienna.

Her experience includes extended periods abroad including as a guest researcher at universities in the USA, South Africa, Ethiopia and Rwanda. She serves as Co-Editor of the Routledge Book Series Gender in a Global/Local World and is an Academic Editor of the journal Third World Quarterly. Among her publications, she is co-editor of the volumes Gewalt, Krieg und Flucht. Feministische Perspektiven auf Sicherheit (2021, Budrich Verlag), Afrasian Transformations: Transregional Perspectives on Development Cooperation, Social Mobility and Cultural Change (2020, Brill) as well as Negotiating Normativity: Postcolonial Appropriations, Contestations and Transformations (2016, Springer).