On the Subject of Citizenship - by Suren Pillay (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This volume brings together reflections on citizenship, political violence, race, ethnicity and gender, by some of the most critical voices of our times. Detailed and wide-ranging individual reflections, take the writings of prominent Ugandan political theorist Mahmood Mamdani as a touchstone for thinking about the world from Africa. Contributors apply this theory to argue that we cannot make sense of the political contentions of difference, identity and citizenship today without understanding the legacies of colonial rule on our world. Chapters examine the persistence of the past, and how we must reckon with its tragedies, its injustices, and its utopias in order to chart a new politics; the politics of possible futures that are more inclusive and more egalitarian, and that can think of difference in more equitable ways. In a time when the call to decolonize knowledge, and politics rings loud and clear, this is both a timely and a crucial intervention"--

Book Synopsis

This volume brings together reflections on citizenship, political violence, race, ethnicity and gender, by some of the most critical voices of our times.

Detailed and wide-ranging individual reflections, take the writings of prominent Ugandan political theorist Mahmood Mamdani as a touchstone for thinking about the world from Africa. Contributors apply this theory to argue that we cannot make sense of the political contentions of difference, identity and citizenship today without understanding the legacies of colonial rule on our world. Chapters examine the persistence of the past, and how we must reckon with its tragedies, its injustices, and its utopias in order to chart a new politics; the politics of possible futures that are more inclusive and more egalitarian, and that can think of difference in more equitable ways. In a time when the call to decolonize knowledge, and politics rings loud and clear, this is both a timely and a crucial intervention.

Review Quotes

In any studies of contemporary Africa and indeed the postcolonial world, Mahmood Mamdani's empirically grounded and theoretically illuminating scholarship occupies a central place. It is therefore inevitable for scholars not to visit and revisit Mamdani's work as they reflect on current and pertinent issues of how colonialists ruled Africa, what social orders were laid out, how violence was deployed, how knowledge was colonized, and how the colonial impinged on the postcolonial. I have nothing but praise for this volume that is focused on Mamdani's ever relevant scholarship. Surren Pillay must be commended for assembling a stellar group on scholars to reflect on Mamdani's work in the advancement of scholarship on Africa in particular and the postcolonial world in general.
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor/Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South and Vice-Dean for Research of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth, Germany

About the Author

Suren Pillay is AC Jordan Professor of African Studies, and Director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.