The University of Venda bestowed an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy on Prof Ali Mazrui (73), world-renowned academic in African Studies and Special Advisor to the World Bank, during its annual spring graduation ceremony on Saturday.

In his acceptance speech, Mazrui said he was pleased to have been given such a high honour by the University of Venda. He said it was good to be recognized by his own Africans on his home soil. Obviously filled with joy, Mazrui told the fully packed auditorium of the University of Venda: “My gratitude to the Council, the Chancellor and the Senate of the University of Venda for this great honour. I am deeply flat-tered. I also send my deepest gratitude to the Vice-Chancellor for facilitating the arrangements. I wish the University of Venda continuing success as she moves from strength to strength. There is nothing more interesting than being honoured by your own people while you still survive. I appreciate the initiative taken by the university in recognition of my work.”

Born in Mombasa, Kenya, on February 4, 1933, Mazrui is now Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University of New York. He is also Albert Luthuli Professor-at-large at the University of Jos in Nigeria. He is Andrew D. White Professor-at-large Emeritus and Senior Scholar in Africana Studies at Cornell University. He has also been appointed Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya, an appointment made by Kenya’s Head of State.

For 10 years he was at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, where he served as Head of Department of Political Science and Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences. He once served as Vice President of the International Political Science Association and has lectured on five continents. He has also been a visiting scholar at Stanford, Chicago, Colgate, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Oxford, Harvard, Bridgewater, Cairo, Leeds, Nairobi, Teheran, Denver, London, Ohio, Baghdad, MacGill, Sussex and Pennsylvania.

Mazrui obtained his BA with distinction from Manchester University in England, his MA from Columbia University in New York and his Doctorate from Oxford University in England. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by several universities worldwide in disciplines ranging from Divinity to Science of Human Development. The president of Kenya has awarded him the National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Burning Spear, First Class.

His television work includes the widely discussed 1986 series The Africans, a triple heritage, jointly produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Public Broadcasting Service WETA, in Washington, in association with the Nigerian Television Authority. The BBC Publications and Little Brown & Company jointly published a book under the same title. It was a bestseller in Britain and was recommended by many book clubs in the USA, including the Book of the Month Club.

Mazrui has published more than 20 books, the most comprehensive being ‘A World Federation of Cultures – An African Perspective’. Others include ‘Towards a Pax African’. ‘Africa’s International Relations’, ‘Political Values’ the ‘Educated Class in Africa,’ and the ‘Political Sociology of the English Language’.

Mazrui has also written for many newspapers and magazines. His works have been published in The New York Times, The London Times, The Economist, The Guardian in London and Lagos, The Sunday Nation in Nairobi, The AL-Ahram in Cairo, the Cumhuriyet in Istan bul and Ankara, the Yomiuri Shimbun and Asaka, the International Herald Tribune in Paris, the Elsevier in Amsterdam and City Press in South Africa.

His research interest includes African politics, international political culture, Political Islam and North-South relations. He is Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington DC, serves on the board of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington DC, and is a fellow of the Institute of Governance and Social Research, University of Jos, in Nigeria.