Darfur: the problem and the way forward
Darfur: the problem and the way forward
Public lecture by professor mahmood mamdani ON
Tuesday 19th august 2008, Nkrumah hall, udsm
4.00 – 6.00 pm
The Mwalimu Nyerere Chair is pleased to announce a Public Lecture on Darfur: The Problem and the Way Forward by Professor Mahmood Mamdani. The problem of Darfur is currently the most serious issue facing the continent. It has grievous implications for the African people and their aspiration for unity and Pan-Africanism. Various local and international forces are involved in it expressing their respective economic and political interests. A serious understanding of the problem is extremely important if African intellectuals are to play a critical and committed role in the struggles of the people of Africa for liberation and emancipation.
We are pleased to announce that Professor Mahmood Mamdani has agreed to take a day off from his busy schedule to deliver a Public Lecture on Darfur. Prof. Mamdani taught at the University of Dar es Salaam during his formative years. Later he taught at Makerere University in his native Uganda and spent some years teaching at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Currently he is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University, New York, USA.
Professor Mamdani has authored many books including Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, Citizen and Subject: Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and the Genocide in Rwanda. He was ranked No. 9 among the list of 100 most important global public intellectuals, based on readers' responses conducted by New York-based magazine, Foreign Policy.
Professor Mamdani has been doing research on Darfur for the last couple of years. He was a consultant to the African Union-organized ‘Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation’ in 2006-07. He has authored several articles on Darfur including 'The Politics of Naming' in the London Review of Books (access at http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n05/mamd01_.html). His forthcoming book on Darfur titled Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror is due to be published by Pantheon, a section of Random House, New York in January, 2009.
The session will be chaired by the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Rwekaza Mukandala, and there will be an opportunity for discussion and debate after the lecture. All are very cordially invited. Do not pass over the opportunity to reflect collectively on our continent and the future of African unity and Pan-Africanism.
“The similarities between Iraq and Darfur are remarkable. The estimate of the number of civilians killed over the past three years is roughly similar. The killers are mostly paramilitaries, closely linked to the official military, which is said to be their main source of arms. The victims too are by and large identified as members of groups, rather than targeted as individuals. But the violence in the two places is named differently. In Iraq, it is said to be a cycle of insurgency and counter-insurgency; in Darfur it is called genocide. Why the difference? Who does the naming? Who is being named? What difference does it make”
Mamdani in LRB