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| Mazrui |
It is not in doubt that Prof Mazrui who passed away at the age of 81, is regarded as one of Africa's foremost intellectuals.
Family members say he was unwell for a couple of months before dying at Binghamton, New York, US.
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.
Defining features of Mazrui’s intellectual legacy include courage and controversy. A principal theme of his work was to identify and criticize abuses of political, economic and military power, whether by colonial or imperial nations, including the United States, or by leaders of developing countries, including African nations.
His original and bold ideas generated passionate debate on African and Islamic issues.
Expressing those ideas took professional and moral courage, especially when his personal security was put at risk. While he was still living in Uganda in 1972, for example, he released a widely circulated essay entitled “When Spain Expelled the Jews and the Moors,” an unmistakable criticism of Idi Amin’s expulsion of Ugandans of South Asian origin.
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 Mazrui, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta described him as "towering" academic whose "intellectual contributions played a major role in shaping African scholarship"
SOURCE: BBC, Monitor
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