Mahmood Mamdani

thumb Mahmood Mamdani (born 23 April 1946) is a Ugandan anthropologist, academic, and political commentator. He is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and a professor of anthropology, political science, and African studies at Columbia University. Quotes There is a big debate on this issue in the study of Africa, more or less along the lines in which you frame your question. The two sides of the debate are represented by the Nigerian historian Ajayi and the Congolese philosopher Mudimbe. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani Mudimbe's book, The Invention of Africa, does not respond directly to Ajayi, does not even mention him, but his position is completely different, indeed contrary, to Ajayi's. Mudimbe's argument is that it is not the duration of colonial influence that is relevant, but its depth and its texture. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani We have learnt through experience that political decolonization cannot be complete without an intellectual paradigm shift, which is what I mean by intellectual decolonization. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani I do acknowledge the importance of the nativist critique that calls for a fuller grasp of historicity, but one also needs to understand its weakness, because its sense of historicity is compromised by its search for authenticity. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani To understand terrorism, we need to go beyond self-defense, beyond the violence of liberation movements, beyond the violence of anti-colonial struggles and liberation movements. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani To understand non-state terror today, we need to understand the historical relationship between state terrorism and non-state terrorism. There is a clear and discernible historical dynamic: during the Cold War, state terror has been parent to non-state terror and, having given rise to non-state terror, it has then proceeded to mimic it - as, for instance, in the "War against Terror". A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani It is essential to make this distinction in an era of nationalism and the nation-state; in other words, in an era where the claim that cultural communities should be self-determining - meaning they should have their own state (with the "self" in self-determination a cultural self) - is considered obvious and normal, something which does not require an explanation A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani Even when Bush speaks of "good" Muslims and "bad" Muslims, what he means by "good" Muslims is really pro-American Muslims and by "bad" Muslims he means anti-American Muslims. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani Even in the history of American Christianity, Christian fundamentalism is a turn-of-the-century movement which was the result of battles fought out in all kinds of institutions, including schools and courts A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani Even when Bush speaks of "good" Muslims and "bad" Muslims, what he means by "good" Muslims is really pro-American Muslims and by "bad" Muslims he means anti-American Muslims. A Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani There's a huge difference between sovereignty and tolerance. Mahmood Mabdani on the Nation's state Things reach a boiling point when one community comes to believe that it has the exclusive right to a state of its own, wherein coexistence is not possible with another community. Mahmood Mabdani on the Nation's state I’m not surprised by the violence, because violence between Israel and Palestine has been going on for the last 75 years—it’s just that it’s been mostly one-sided. Mahmood Mabdani on the Nation's state External links nm0541052 Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Political scientists from Uganda