Professor Ali Mazrui is Dead. Scholar and political writer Professor Ali Mazrui has died on Sunday night at 3.45 am in the United States after illness. Read full News here http://www.webkenni.com/breaking_news/breaking-news-professor-ali-mazrui-dead/

R.I.P

Death is inevitable

R I P sir

Rip to him.

Great scholar and historian. A loss to Africa and the world.

I personally have not heard of him until today. I must say though that he was a great achiever. May his soul RIP.

*inspired*

Ali Al'amin Mazrui (February 24, 1933 – October 12, 2014) was an academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. He was an Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and the Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York.

EducationEdit

Mazrui studied at schools in Mombasa, in Kenya. Mazrui obtained his B.A. with Distinction from Manchester University in Great Britain in 1960, his M.A. from Columbia University in New York in 1961, and his doctorate (DPhil) from Oxford University (Nuffield College) in 1966.

Early careerEdit

Upon completing his education at Oxford University, Mazrui joined Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda), where he served as head of the Department of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. He served at Makerere University until 1973, when he was forced into exile by Idi Amin. In 1974, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as professor and later was appointed the Director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (1978–1981). In 1989, he was appointed to the faculty of Binghamton University, State University of New York as the Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and the Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies (IGCS).

International acclaimEdit

In addition to his appointments as the Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities, Professor in Political Science, African Studies, Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture and the Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies (IGCS), Mazrui also holds three concurrent faculty appointments as Albert Luthuli Professor-at-Large in the Humanities and Development Studies at the University of Jos in Nigeria, Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large Emeritus and Senior Scholar in Africana Studies at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and Chancellor of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya. In 1999, Mazrui retired as the inaugural Walter Rodney Professor at the University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana. Mazrui has also been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, The University of Chicago, Colgate University, McGill University, National University of Singapore, Oxford University, Harvard University, Bridgewater State College, Ohio State University, and at other institutions in Cairo, Australia, Leeds, Nairobi, Teheran, Denver, London, Baghdad, and Sussex, amongst others.

In 2005, Ali Mazrui was selected as the 73rd topmost intellectual person in the world on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals by Prospect Magazine (UK) and Foreign Policy (United States)

Source: Wiki

Wow! ALI MAZRUI died! This news should have been on the front page. But I guess few in this generation knew of him.

Before Henry Louis Gate's African-American themed documentaries and features on PBS, before the DNA racial-genetics tracing shows featuring Oprah, before Gates' must-see late 90s series, "Wonders of the African World," Dr. Ali Mazrui, in the mid-80s, presented us and the western world with a seminal work "The Africans" which aimed to tell our story from our point of view.

Unfortunately, we hadn't heard much from him and about him for years before he passed.

This is why we should continue to reach back in recent and past history to celebrate the laurels of our Great Africans.


On an individual note, time permitting, I would like to continue my theme of Great Africans in history and the present, by creating a couple more such threads. If you're so inclined, feel free to start, e.g., Great Africans in the 20th Century; Great Africans Making a Difference. Please check out my signature for previous ones.

https://www.nairaland.com/675773/great-leaders-nigerias-history-before & https://www.nairaland.com/672198/great-speeches-african-black-history
plus:
https://www.nairaland.com/1270134/great-african-women-history