Micere Githae Mugo

Micere Githae Mugo (2014)

Micere Githae Mugo (born Madeleine Micere Githae; 1942 – 30 June 2023) was a playwright, author, activist, instructor and poet from Kenya. She was a literary critic and professor of literature in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University. She was forced into exile in 1982 from Kenya during the Daniel Arap Moi dictatorship for activism and moved to teach in Zimbabwe, and later the United States.

Quotes

• "He is a comrade; he was a friend when my own people did not want me."
  • She is referring to Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president known to many people as a tough President. This is as quoted in the article titled
  • Micere Githae Mugo: Struggles and resilience of top Pan Africanist written by Carolyne Oyugi.

• "I am a child of the universe, I have lived in almost all continents."
  • This is as quoted in the article titled Micere Githae Mugo: Struggles and resilience of top Pan Africanist written by Carolyne Oyugi.

• You see, when you go into retirement, you tend to be out of the limelight and so, winning this Africa Writes Lifetime Achievement Award gives me a sense of belonging.
  • Talking about how she feels winning Royal African Society's Lifetime Achievement Awards

• Both are creative, imaginative artistic expressions that use words and language to communicate: one is spoken, or verbal; the other one is written. So, there is a direct connection.
  • The connection between spoken and written tradition

• Writing, and even becoming a published writer, is not necessarily going to make you famous or make you money: in fact, you may very well die poor! You need to be in love with writing; let the impetus come from deep within you; feel it in your bones and in the very depths of your soul. Allow the message to possess you to the extent that you cannot hold it back.
  • Her advice to those just starting out in the writing career

• Don’t be discouraged by rejection, especially from publishers who say your work is not quite right for them. Have faith in your ability and very importantly, focus on learning, growing and developing.
  • Her advice to writers

• The struggle for social justice badly needs the participation of young people. Global youth make up an estimated 1.3 billion of the world’s population and so they need to fight to ensure that they live in a just world.
  • Her advice to young activists

• Orature narratives on justice and injustice turned into life lessons that matured into the realization that if I am going to claim humanity for myself, I must seek to humanize others by reaching out to them in solidarity.
  • Interview with Africa Writes Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo

• Learning about African orature and poetry is essential. Equally, Orature from the various global cultures of people of African origin, regardless of where they’re located, is a precious cultural heritage we cannot afford to ignore or neglect.
  • Her reply when asked how important it is for children in the UK to have access to poetry and orature from the African diaspora

• The spoken word is only a tiny bit of orature: it is poetic oracy and oracy is what I define as the skillful use of linguistic-expression to create utterance that renders itself to performance.
  • Her reply when asked if spoken word is orature

• 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.
  • Importance of Writing

• I clearly remember my introduction to the African American heritage. I was in the school sanatorium with a bad attack of the flu when the headmistress came to see me, bringing copies of Richard Wright's Native Son, Black Boy and Trevor Huddleston's Naught For Your Comfort, I could not put any of the books down. Later on I looked for books by James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison. From then on I became a part-time student of African American Literature which was not offered on the colonial syllabus.
  • Micere Githae Mugo in Talking with African Writers by Jane Wilkinson (1992)

Quotes about Micere Githae Mugo

• Mugo is a poet with a mission in her society, which embraces the black race, the underprivileged class, and her specific female gender.She appears to speak for Africans and blacks, women, and the downtrodden.
  • Remarked World Literature Today reviewer Tanure Ojaide.
  • She became one of the first black students to be allowed to enroll in what had previously been a segregated academy.
  • [1]

• Professor Mugo is one of the leading lights of our department and the University, she also is quite influential in her native Kenya, whose own liberation struggles have figured prominently in her lifelong political activism.
  • Renate Simson, talking about Micere