Dr. Josephine Cecilia Naidoo completed her undergraduate degrees in the Republic of South Africa. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Illinois. Her academic career has been primarily spent at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. At the point of her retirement in July 1997, she was Full Professor of Psychology. Dr. Naidoo has been engaged in research on South Asian women in Canada, multiculticultural issues, race relations and Asian/African indigenous psychology. In the late 80's and early 90's, Dr. Naidoo was an invited member of Federal Government studies on the mental health of immigrants/refugees and intercultural/interracial education in Canda. She has served as Secretrary-General of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, the main professional organization in her area of expertise.
Dr. Naidoo was raised in a deeply Christian Roman Catholic family within the Hindu-Muslim minority community of Asian Indians in South Africa during the racist era of Apartheid in that country. Teachings that profoundly impacted on Dr. Naidoo's growing years and her life in general include (i) the Catholic concept of unity of humankind in the Mystical Body of Christ and by extension a concern for the welfare and empowerment of disadvantaged sectors of society and (ii) the Gandhian concepts of satyagraha (pursuit of truth) and ahimsa (way of non-violence) as a personal philosophy and as the underpinnings for political resistance strategy by disempowered peoples of the world.