Join Professor Wachanga at 3:00pm EST on February 22 for the rescheduled 2023 Ngũgĩ Lecture at the Lilly Library of Indiana University!

This year’s Ngũgĩ Lecture will be presented by Professor Alamin Mazrui of Rutgers University. After the talk, he will be joined in conversation by Professor Ndirangu Wachanga of the University of Wisconsin. Participant Q&A will follow. Learn more about the event by clicking here.

Flyer for the Book Launch (More Information)

Film screening and conservation with filmmaker Dr. Ndirangua Wachanga In a riveting documentary, Dr. Ndirangu Wachanga explores the life and work of Micere Githae Mugo, one of Africa's leading writers, activists, performers and postcolonial thinkers. A champion for democratic and human rights in Kenya and beyond for close to half a century, she became the first woman dean of any African university.

This collection reflects on the life and work of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, who celebrated his 80th birthday in 2018. Drawing from a wide range of contributors, including writers, critics, publishers, and activists, the collection traces the emergence of Ngugi as a writer in the early 1960s, his contribution to the African culture of letters in the second half of the twentieth century, and his global artistic life in the twenty-first century. The texts published here are both personal and critical reflections on the different phases of the writer’s life. These are poems of praise from friends and admirers, commentaries from his co-workers in public theatre in Kenya in the 1970s and 1980s, from his political associates in the fight for democracy, on his roles as an intellectual of decolonization, and on his experiences in the global art world.

Wachanga introduces Ngugi wa Thiong'o at the Library of Congress during Jioni na Ngugi event. Wachanga's film on Ngugi was screened at the event.

Micere Mugo is one of Africa’s leading writers, poets, performers and one of the most significant postcolonial political, social and cultural thinkers. For close to a half century, she has been an eloquent voice in championing democratic and human rights.

This documentary records a story of Micere Mugo’s indestructible spirit; her life is defined by bravery with humility, passion with humility, struggles and successes, resistance and resilience, unbreakable commitment, temptations to surrender, and more importantly, honesty and forthrightness.

About the Filmmaker: Ndirganu Wachanga is a professor at UW-Whitewater. His documentary projects seek to preserve East African memory by capturing raw voices using visual and audio technology.

Following each film there will be a discussion led by Dr. Wachanga. These screenings are free and open to the public.

Screening of Ngugi wa Thiong'o: The River Between African and European Languages, a biographical documentary film by Ndirangu Wachanga.

Ndirangu Wachanga is a Kenyan and Associate Professor of media studies and information science, University of Wisconsin. He is an authorized documentary biographer. His documentary, Ali Mazrui: A Walking Triple Heritage, won the 2015 New York African Studies Book Award. Wachanga served as a Carnegie Fellow in 2018. He has given talks at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, SOAS, London School of Economics and is known globally for his work in preserving memory, ethics, race, representation and communication technologies.

Ndirangu Wachanga is a professor of media studies and information at the University of Wisconsin and an analyst for Freedom House’s freedom of expression global index. His research interests include the intersections of media formation and social, political, economic, and cultural practices: global media and information ethics: communication technologies: and the contemporary digital diaspora. Wachanga is the authorized biographer for Ali A. Mazuri, Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities at Binghampton University, whose current work focuses on African and Islamic studies and north-south relations. Wachanga’s documentary projects seek to preserve East African memory by capturing raw voices using visual and audio technology. Ph.D. University of North Texas.

For more information contact Rebecca Aguas, raguas@princeton.edu.

Visit the Program in African Studies on the web at www.piirs.princeton.edu/afs

Join Dr. Wachanga to gain a unique perspective on the intellectual giant who helped Africans understand themselves and articulated what it means to be African in The West.