Political theorist Ali Mazrui discusses the question of a post-racial age
Ali A. Mazrui, D. Phil., world acclaimed political thinker and theorist, gave a presentation at the 51品茶 entitled, "From Othello to Obama: Is This the Dawn of a Post-Racial Age?" on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at UNE's Biddeford Campus to a standing room only audience.
Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, introduced Ali A. Mazrui as "not only a prolific writer, but an original thinker." This was Mazrui's second visit to UNE. He was the first Featherman Fund lecturer in 1998.
Mazrui greeted his audience, saying, "I am delighted to be back on your distinguished campus to discuss issues of race and issues of culture, and to ask - can there be such a thing as a post-racial society?" He added, "The big question is whether we are headed for a world that is not only post-racial, but post-racism, and the prejudice that comes along with it."
Mazrui said that "during the time of Shakespeare, religion was a much bigger cause of conflict within societies than skin color." He used a discussion of Shakespeare's Othello as "tragic hero" to show that "racial prejudice seemed far less developed than cultural prejudice."
He added, "The Obama phenomenon poses new challenges - such as whether at the global level, we are returning to a Shakespearean scale of values," adding "it is too early to reach a definitive conclusion."
"In this second decade of the 21st century, it is not the color line, but the culture line, that is creating a sense of injustice across different areas of values."
Dr. Mazrui is the Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Originally from Kenya, he is revered as one of the world's top 100 public intellectuals.
Upon completing his doctorate at Oxford University in England, Dr. Mazrui joined the faculty of Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda), where he served as head of the Department of Political Science and dean of the faculty of social sciences until 1973.
In 1974, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as professor and later as the director of the Center for Afro-American 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).
Dr. 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 and Chancellor, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya.
In addition to his academic appointments, Dr. Mazrui has also served as president of the African Studies Association (USA) and as vice president of the International Political Science Association and has lectured on five continents. Mazrui has also served as special advisor to the World Bank and also on the Board of the American Muslim Council, Washington, D.C.
His research interests include African politics, international political culture, political Islam and North-South relations. He is author or co-author of more than 20 books. He has also published hundreds of articles in major scholastic journals and for public media. In addition to his written work, Mazrui was also the creator of the much acclaimed and widely discussed television series The Africans: A Triple Heritage, which was jointly produced by the BBC and PBS.