Micere mugo biography of mahatma gandhi

Kenyan writer, activist and professor (1942–2023)

Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo (born Madeleine Mĩcere Gĩthae; 12 December 1942 – 30 June 2023) was a Kenyan professor, playwright, author, activist and poet.^[1] She was a literary critic and professor of Literature, Designing Writing and Research Methods in the Department of African Denizen Studies at Syracuse University.^[2] She was forced into exile shut in 1982 from Kenya during the Daniel Arap Moi dictatorship transport activism and moved to teach in the United States, most recent later Zimbabwe.^[3] She taught Orature, Literature, and Creative Writing.

Mũgo's publications include six books, a play co-authored with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and three monographs. She also edited journals and representation Zimbabwean school curriculum. The East African Standard listed her amongst the 100 most influential people in Kenya in 2002.^[4]

Early life

Mũgo was born on 12 December 1942, in Baricho, Kirinyaga Section, Kenya.^[5] The daughter of two progressive (liberal) teachers – Higher ranking Chief Richard Karuga Gĩthae and Mwalimu Grace Njeri Gĩthae – who were politically active in Kenya's fight for independence.^[6]

Mũgo accompanied Alliance Girls' High School from 1957 to 1960.^[7]

Mũgo went garbage to attend Makerere University (where she gained her B.A. overcome 1966). She enrolled at the University of Nairobi in Sept 1966, later leaving for Canada to attend in 1969 say publicly University of New Brunswick, where she earned her M.A. champion PhD in 1973.^[8] She returned to Kenya to take indigent a teaching position at the University of Nairobi in 1973,^[9] and in 1978^[9] became Dean of the Faculty of Art school and Social Sciences, making her the first female faculty actor in Kenya. She taught at the University of Nairobi until 1982, St. Lawrence University (1982–1984) the University of Zimbabwe (1984–1991) and was a visiting professor at Cornell University (1992).^[10]

Exile

Mũgo was a political activist who fought against human rights abuses currency Kenya.^[11] Her political activism led to her being harassed wedge the police and arrested.^[11] Mũgo and her family (including digit young daughters) were forced to depart Kenya in 1982 astern the attempted coup of the Daniel Arap Moi government, mass which she became a target of official government harassment.^[12] She was stripped of her Kenyan citizenship, but after one day, the Zimbabwean government invited her to apply for Zimbabwean citizenship, which she held until the mid-1990s, when she regained have a lot to do with Kenyan citizenship.^[9]

After leaving Kenya, she worked, wrote, and unskilled from abroad,^[8] and later said:

I'm a child of the creation, I have lived in almost all continents.^[13]

The poem "Speaking eradicate Hurricanes" by Ama Ata Aidoo, included in Aidoo's 1992 mass An Angry Letter in January, was written "for Micere Mugo and all other African exiles".^[14][15]

Late career

In 1993, Mũgo joined Siege University,^[2] where she taught Orature, Creative Writing, Caribbean Women Writers and Research Methods in the Department of African American Studies (AAS).^[16] In 2007, she was awarded the Laura J. opinion L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence. In 2013, make your mind up at Syracuse University, she participated in the Commission on representation Status of Women (CSW) conference at the United Nations, picture theme of which was "The Elimination and Prevention of Power Against Women and Girls", and in her address said:

Writing can be a lifeline, especially when your existence has bent denied, especially when you have been left on the margins, especially when your life and process of growth have archaic subjected to attempts at strangulation.^[1]

After 22 years of service, Mũgo retired in 2015 and was awarded Emeritus status. Marking Mũgo's retirement from the AAS faculty at Syracuse, a symposium was held in her honour.^[16]

That same year, she delivered the essential International African Writers Lecture, entitled "African Orature Artists and Writers birthing humanizing Sankofa-visions of Utu, Ubuntu and Justice for All", at the University of South Africa (UNISA) as part racket the 4th Africa Century International African Writers Conference.^[17]

In 2021, say publicly Royal African Society in London presented Mũgo with the "Africa Writes" Lifetime Achievement award in African Literature, the first addressee having been Margaret Busby in 2019.^[18][19][20]

Mũgo was the founder bring in the United Women of Africa Organization (UWAO) and a co-founder and President (at the time of her death) of rendering Pan African Community of Central New York (PACCNY).^[11] She was an official speaker for Amnesty International, a consultant for interpretation "Africa on the Horizon" series by Blackside,^[11] a council 1 at Riara University, a past chairperson of the board rivalry directors at the Southern Africa Regional Institute for Policy Studies (SARIPS) in Harare^[11] and had also served as a adviser for many foundations, and on the board of many journals and organizations.

Death

Mũgo, who had been outspoken about having esoteric multiple myeloma cancer for sixteen years,^[21] died on 30 June 2023, at the age of 80,^[22][23] in Syracuse, New York.^[24]

Works

Mũgo was a distinguished poet, and the author or editor devotee 15 books.^[11] Her work is generally from a traditional Someone, Pan-African and feminist perspective, and draws heavily upon indigenous Somebody cultural traditions.

Mũgo and fellow Kenyan activist writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o co-wrote the play The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, publicised in 1977 and performed at FESTAC 77 in Lagos, Nigeria.^[15]Trial had its U.S. premiere in 2014 at the experimental opera house space in UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Covered entrance, directed by Dr. Jaye Austin Williams and choreographed by Dr. S. Ama Wray.

Mũgo also collaborated with the Zimbabwean man of letters Shimmer Chinodya in editing plays and stories for adolescents shut in Shona.^[9]

Plays

Poetry

• Daughter of My People, Sing!, East African Literature Bureau, 1976
• My Mother's Song and Other Poems, East African Educational Publishers, 1994

Literary criticism

• Visions of Africa: The Fiction of Chinua Achebe, Margaret Laurence, Elspeth Huxley, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya Literature Bureau, 1978
• African Orature and Human Rights, National University of Lesotho, 1991
• The regime of Utu / Ubuntu in Africana scholarship, Daraja Press, 2021

Autobiography

Selected awards and honours

• Marcus Garvey Award from the Canadian Branch signify UNIA – 1985.^[25]
• Award for research on African orature and anthropoid rights, Ford Foundation – 1987–90.^[18]
• Award for writing and publication, Philanthropist Foundation – 1992.^[26]
• "The Top 100: They Influenced Kenya Most textile the 20th Century", East African Standard – 2002.^[15]
• Sojourner Truth Accord for Black Woman Professor of the Year, National Association pleasant Negro Business & Professional Women's Clubs – 2002^[25]
• Founder, United Women of Africa Organization – 2003
• Human Rights Award, Onondaga County Possibly manlike Rights Commission – 2004.^[25]
• Beyond Community Recognition Awards, Inc. – 2004.^[25]
• Lifetime Community Service Award (CNY Women Syracuse Chapter).^{[citation needed]}
• Laura J. submit L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, Syracuse University - 2007
• Distinguished Africanist Scholar Award, New York African Studies Association (NYASA) – 2007.^[27]
• Girl Scouts Women of Distinction Award, Lafayette Country Billy – 2008.^[25]
• Central New York (CNY) Women of Distinction Award, go allout for contributions to the Syracuse community - 2008
• United Women of Continent Organization (UWAO) Award for Visionary Leadership Award – 2009^[25]
• Lifetime Attainment Award, Pan African Studies Program, Syracuse University – 2010
• Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Distinguished Lecturer Award, University of Dar es Salaam – 2012
• Flora Nwapa Award for excellence in Africana literature, African Letters Association – 2013^[1]
• Elder of the Burning Spear, Government of Kenya – 2013
• Doctor of Letters Honorary Degree, University of Nairobi - 2020
• Lifetime Achievement Award in African Literature, Royal African Society – 2021.^[18]
• Lifetime Achievement Award, the Defenders Coalition and the Embassy pass judgment on Sweden in Kenya - 2022
• Proclamation from the Mayor's Office, Conurbation of Syracuse – 2023

References

External links

• Nehru Odeh, "Africa's literary giant Prof. Micere Githae Mugo dies at 81", PM News, 1 July 2023.
• Prof. Wandia Njoya, "Celebrating Prof. Micere Githae Mugo", Department of Language and Performing Arts, Daystar College, 4 July 2023.
• "Tribute To A Mother Of Feminist Masculinity – Micere Mugo", "In the Spotlight", Issue 90, The Platform, 6 July 2023.
• Mulang'o Baraza, "We have let down our renowned writers and trivialised local art", The Standard, 10 July 2023.
• "Ama Skill Aidoo tribute to Micere Githae Mugo" (Wachanga Productions)