Ali Mazrui, who has died at the
age of 81, is regarded as one of Africa’s foremost intellectuals. The
BBC’s Frenny Jowi looks back at how the Kenyan academic and political
writer influenced a post-colonial generation.
Mr Mazrui has been a household name in Kenya and beyond.
Born in the Kenyan coastal city
of Mombasa on 24 February 1933, some 20 years before the Mau Mau
uprising against British colonial rule, he always portrayed himself as a
true patriot.
In his series of essays On
Heroes and Uhuru-Worship, he wrote as an African scholar deeply involved
in the fight for the freedom of his people, expressing empathy with
those on the front line of the battle against colonialists.
“What about blaming the freedom fighter for the atrocities committed by the security forces contending him?” he asked.
Ali Mazrui wrote extensively about colonialism…
He condemned the atrocities committed by colonial rulers
Mr Mazrui’s writings, though
embedded in history, still resonate because he talks about the need to
recognise national heroes, without worshipping them.
They also give insight into some of the greatest concerns currently facing the world as he wrote about terrorism and Islam.
In one of his books, Islam
between Globalisation and Counter Terrorism, he explained how the
religion was entrapped in the danger of rising extremism.
He studied at some of the
world’s most prestigious universities, including Oxford, from where
obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1966.
Mr Mazrui then joined Uganda’s
famous Makerere University as head of the Department of Political
Science and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Throughout his career, he wrote numerous books and expressed strong opinions in widely published papers.
In the 1970s, Mr Mazrui’s sharp
criticism of the then-Kenyan and Ugandan regimes – led by Daniel arap
Moi and Idi Amin respectively – displeased the ruling class, leading to
his exile in the US.
Ali Mazrui lamented the growing influence of Western culture
At the time of his death, he was
an Albert Schweitzer professor in the humanities and the director of
the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in New
York.
Leading tributes to Mr Mazrui,
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta described him as “towering” academic
whose “intellectual contributions played a major role in shaping African
scholarship”.
“Indeed, death has robbed us of one of Kenya’s greatest scholars,” Mr Kenyatta said.
‘The African condition’
Tanzania’s Deputy Minister of
Communication, Science and Technology, January Makamba, paid a more
personal tribute, saying Mr Mazrui “taught me to appreciate and value
Africa’s complex identity and multiple heritages”.
Mr Mazrui wrote and presented a
ground-breaking BBC television series in the 1980s entitled The Africans
– a Triple Heritage that talked of the Western , Islamic and indigenous
influences on Africa.
He won several awards and in
2005, the US journal Foreign Policy and British journal Prospect listed
him as among the world’s top 100 public intellectuals
Mr Mazrui authored many books
Mr Mazrui lamented the growing influence of the West on societies across the world.
“Even the very vices of Western
culture are acquiring worldwide prestige. Muslim societies which once
refrained from alcohol are now manifesting increasing alcoholism,” he said in a speech in 2000 at an event hosted by the Royal African Society and the BBC in London.
“Chinese elites are capitulating
to Kentucky Fried Chicken and MacDonald hamburgers. And Mahatma
Gandhi’s country has decided to go nuclear.”
In 1979, Mr Mazrui also delivered the BBC’s Reith Lecture, entitled The African Condition.
He will be buried, in accordance with his wishes at the historical monument of Fort Jesus in Mombasa, his birthplace.
- BBC
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