40 academics rally behind Prof Mamdani
Kampala.
A group of 40 associate professors at various international universities have warned of the ruin that may befall the university should Prof Mahmood Mamdani be relieved of his duties as executive director at Makerere University Institute of Social Research (MISR).
In a collective letter signed by all the 40 dons affiliated to top universities in the US, South Africa, UK and India, they called for support of the PhD programme run at MISR.
The professors claiming to have strong association with MISR, asked that Prof Mamdani’s contract be renewed to sidestep a looming leadership void.
“We write to express our concern about the future of the doctoral programme at [MISR]. None of us are at present employed by Makerere University. But many of us have had an attachment to MISR through external research,” the letter reads in part.
The level of expertise of Prof Mandani, the letter says, brings donors confidence that will be threatened if at all is let to go.
“In our view it would be premature to deprive MISR of his [Prof Mandani] expert leadership at this crucial stage in the life of the PhD programme,” they wrote.
On Monday, Dr Stella Nyanzi stripped to the knickers protesting the manner in which Prof Mamdani had evicted her from office.
However, Prof Mamdani accused Dr Nyanzi of continuously drawing a salary without doing any work related to MISR.
Yesterday, the Makerere University Convocation, comprising of former students also rallied behind Prof Mamdani, demanding for action against Dr Nyanzi and Prof John Ddumba- Sentamu, the university vice chancellor.
At a press conference in Kampala yesterday Dr Tanga Odoi, the chairperson of the Makerere University Convocation, accused Prof Ddumba of personalising the institute, adding: “We are going to engage both parties and encourage Prof Mamdani to appear before the committee but this behavior [of Dr Nyanzi’s stripping] must be condemned.”
warning
The risk: In the letter the academicians say Makerere University risks to lose more form the current squabble if it is not well handled.
Those who signed
Dr. Derek R. Peterson
Professor of History and African Studies
University of Michigan
USA
Dr. Luise White
Professor of History
University of Florida
USA
Dr. Richard Reid
Head of Department and Professor of the History of Africa
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London
United Kingdom
Dr. Premesh Lalu
Director
DST/NRF Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities
Centre for Humanities Research
University of the Western Cape
South Africa
Dr. John M Lonsdale
Emeritus Professor of Modern African History
Fellow of Trinity College
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
Dr. Partha Chatterjee
Professor of Anthropology
Columbia University
New York
USA
Dr. Holly Hanson
Professor of History
Mount Holyoke College
USA
Dr. David Scott
Professor of Anthropology
Columbia University
USA
Dr. Nancy Rose Hunt
Department of History
University of Michigan
USA
Dr. Ebrima Sall
Executive Secretary
CODESRIA
Dakar, Senegal
Dr. Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Columbia University
New York
USA
Dr. Jonathon Glassman
Department of History
Northwestern University
USA
Dr. Brinkley Messick
Professor of Anthropology
Columbia University
USA
Prof. Suren Pillay
Centre for Humanities Research
University of the Western Cape
South Africa
Dr. Victoria J. Collis-Buthelezi
Lecturer, Department of English
University of Cape Town
Visiting Researcher, WiSER
University of the Witswatersrand
South Africa
Dr. Harry Garuba
Professor of African Studies
University of Cape Town
South Africa
Dr. Jean Allman
Professor of History and African and African American Studies
Director, Center for the Humanities
Washington University in St. Louis
USA
Dr. David Schoenbrun
Associate Professor of History
Department of History & Program of African Studies
Northwestern University
USA
Dr. Marissa Mika
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
USA
Dr. Talal Asad
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
Graduate Center, City University of New York
USA
Dr. Timothy Parsons
Professor of History and African and African American Studies5
Washington University, St. Louis
USA
Dr. Nivedita Menon
Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Delhi, India
Dr. Aditya Nigam
Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
Delhi, India
Dr. Richard Vokes
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
University of Adelaide
Australia
Dr. Neil Kodesh
Director, African Studies Program
Associate Professor of History
University of Wisconsin-Madison
USA
Dr. Mamadou Diouf
Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and History
Columbia University
USA
Dr. Jonathon Earle
Department of History
Centre College
USA
Dr. Elaine Salo
Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies
University of Delaware
USA
Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod
Joseph L. Butte wiser Professor of Social Science
Columbia University
USA
Dr. Sirisha Naidu
Associate Professor of Economics
Wright State University
USA
Dr. Paolo Israel
Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Coordinator, History Department
University of the Western Cape
South Africa
Dr. Jung Ran Forte
Lecturer, Anthropology and Sociology Department
University of the Western Cape
South Africa
Dr. Aili Tripp
Professor of Political Science and Gender & Women's Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
USA
Dr Shane Doyle
Senior Lecturer in African History
University of Leeds
United Kingdom
Dr. Elliott Green
Associate Professor in Development Studies
London School of Economics
United Kingdom
Dr. Thomas Asher
Program Director, Academia in the Public Sphere, Next Generation Social Sciences in
Africa
Social Science Research Council
Dr. Michael Neocosmos
Professor and Director UHURU
Unit for the Humanities
Rhodes University
South Africa
Dr. Anne Pitcher
Professor of Political Science and African & African-American Studies
University of Michigan
USA
Prof. Shamil Jeppie
Director, HUMA
Department of History
University of Cape Town
South Africa
Dr. Jennifer Lee Johnson
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Purdue University
USA
Dr. Patricia Hayes
SARChI Chair in Visual History & Theory
Centre for Humanities Research
University of the Western Cape
South Africa
