H-Net - Mwalimu Ali A. Mazrui, 1933-2014- Celebration of an Ubiquitous Life - 2014-12-09

H-Africa Mwalimu Ali A Mazrui, 1933-2014: Celebration of an Ubiquitous Life Discussion published by Oloruntoyin Falola on Tuesday, December 9, 2014 Mwalimu Ali A Mazrui, 1933-2014: Celebration of an Ubiquitous Life On December 4, 2014, a memorial service was held in honor of Professor Ali A Mazrui at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C Two days after this magnificent event, a bigger celebration was held at Binghamton University in the State of New York that attracted over 200 people, including my humble self The diverse audience came from far and near, including representatives from universities and colleges in Syracuse (NY), College Station (Pennsylvania), Rutgers (NJ), Ithaca, (NY) and New York City, while two scholars traveled all the way from Makerere University in Uganda where Mazrui cut his intellectual teeth as a scholar and professor The crowded program included speeches by the Dean and Provost of the University, as well as a dozen scholars, five of Mazrui’s children and Ali Al’Amin Mazrui, his grandson named after him The Master of Ceremonies was Ricardo René Larémont, Professor of Political Science/Sociology, Binghamton University A tasty reception concluded the evening In a testimonial fashion, one speaker after another attested to the scholarship, humanity, and overall greatness of Mwalimu Ali A Mazrui, a public intellectual of great vision and courage He was never shy of defending Africa, offering great ideas, and challenging orthodoxy In my own presentation, I said in part: Ali Mazrui is a scholar whose intellectual inheritances are immense, who then built on those inheritances to create a stadium of ideas, and legacies that will remain with us for a long time to come, if not perpetually The inheritances include the European conquest and its consequences; the rising politics of ethnicities instigated by the colonial policies of divide and rule; development issues; emerging political systems, ideologies, party systems, and military regimes Mazrui, who earned his academic titles and honorific ones like Mwalimu and Ghana’s Nana, created an impressive knowledge system that includes the analysis and the instrumentalization of cultures, religion (notably Islam); Africanity (which he theorizes as triple heritage of the Indigenous, Western, and Islamic), political sociology and political philosophy His cumulative impact on African studies revealed and made us rethink more profoundly the “African condition”, and offered an invaluable template that allows for fresh discussions on identity politics, political thought, and political behavior to flourish He Citation: Oloruntoyin Falola Mwalimu Ali A Mazrui, 1933-2014: Celebration of an Ubiquitous Life H-Africa 12-09-2014 https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/discussions/55047/mwalimu-ali-mazrui-1933-2014-celebration-ubiquitous-life Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License H-Africa generated debates around colonial and post colonial histories, thus exposing various ideas on colonial conquest and colonization, resistance and nationalism He highlighted Western knowledge of domination and inventions, which his generation had to combat Mazrui’s scholarship engaged a variety of lines: color line, religious line, gender line and much more, that attracted vigorous debates which he equally engaged Those lines led to contested knowledge systems, as in the Eurocentric denials of African humanity which was countered by new ideas such as Pan Africanism As a scholar of rare breed, Mazrui developed methodologies that appropriately engaged the “African condition” in ways that were generally eclectic and encyclopedic Personal observations combined with autobiography to supply cogent analyses that tear down arbitrary boundaries while offering multiple insightful suggestions that bring into conversation disciplines that often stand apart His comparative inquires spoke to state systems, political thought, and institutions He could particularize in one essay and conceptualize in the next Knowledge generation, to him, had an objective: the search for practical solutions to problems His intellectual legacies are bound to endure, as he offered many ideas on the received ideological models, knowledge systems, and the complexities of interactions among and between people, states, countries, religions and races Mazruina—a brand that embodies plural knowledge system—will continue to aid us in the understanding of the value and ideology of knowledge, the contents of knowledge systems, and the inter-religious and interethnic peaceful relations Mazruiana is a path to a global flow of peace without hierarchies and domination Africa will surely get to its destination point of attaining development, stability and leadership in global politics Other immortalizing activities are being planned, including the creation of an Ali A Mazrui Foundation and an Ali A Mazrui Endowed Chair to be based in Uganda, which was his adopted beloved home, although he was born a Kenyan Citation: Oloruntoyin Falola Mwalimu Ali A Mazrui, 1933-2014: Celebration of an Ubiquitous Life H-Africa 12-09-2014 https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/discussions/55047/mwalimu-ali-mazrui-1933-2014-celebration-ubiquitous-life Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License ... 1 2-0 9-2 014 https://networks .h-net. org/node/28765/discussions/55047 /mwalimu- ali- mazrui-193 3-2 014 -celebration- ubiquitous- life Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works... in Uganda, which was his adopted beloved home, although he was born a Kenyan Citation: Oloruntoyin Falola Mwalimu Ali A Mazrui, 193 3-2 014: Celebration of an Ubiquitous Life H-Africa 1 2-0 9-2 014... point of attaining development, stability and leadership in global politics Other immortalizing activities are being planned, including the creation of an Ali A Mazrui Foundation and an Ali A