Prof. Micere Githae Mugo

She was rewarded yesterday at University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with Distinguished Nyerere Lecturer 2012. Micere is a playwright, author, poet, literal critic, activist and instructor born in 1942, Baricho in Kirinyaga County.

She attended Alliance Girls High School before leaving for Makerere University for her B.A and later the University of New Brunswick for her M.A. In 1978, she gained her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and returned home to lecture at the University of Nairobi where she became the first female faculty dean in Kenya.

After going to exile in 1982, she became Professor of Literature at the University of Zimbabwe. Her exile to Zimbabwe was due to her being a vocal critic of human right abuses in Kenya. She was also stripped her Kenyan citizen.

“Writing can be a lifeline, especially when your existence has been denied, especially when you have been left on the margins, especially when your life and process of growth have been subjected to attempts at strangulation.”

A quote by Micere Mugo

She is currently a professor in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University. She has also been the President of United Women of Africa and founder of Pan African Community of Central New York.

This is her latest honour after others that include:

Distinguished Africanist Scholar Award (2007)

CNY Women of Distinction Award – 2008

Excellence in Masters Level Teaching at Syracuse University Prize (2012)

Courage Award, Girl Scout Council of Central New York

Lifetime Community Service Award (CNY Women Syracuse Chapter)

Rockefeller Foundation Award for writing and publication - 1992

Beyond Community Recognition Awards – 2004

Human Rights Award, Onondaga County Human Rights Commission – 2004

Ford Foundation Award for research on African orature and human rights (1987 - 1990)

Marcus Garvey Award, Canadian Branch of U.N.I.A. - 1985 among others

Selected works:

Daughter of My People, Sing! (Poetry) – 1976

The Lomg Illness of Ex-Chief Kiti (Play) – 1976

The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (Play with Ngugi wa Thiong'o) – 1976

Visions of Africa: The Fiction of Chinua Achebe, Margret Laurence, Elspeth Huxley, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Criticism) – 1978

African Orature and Human Rights, National University of Lesotho – 1991

My Mother’s Poem and Other Songs: Songs and Poems, including ‘The Woman’s Poem’ and ‘My Mother’s Poem’ – 1994

Kenya salutes you!