The Meaning of Mandela: A Literary and Intellectual Celebration
These engaging and witty lectures bring together the ideas of three renowned scholars—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Wole Soyinka, and Cornel West—as they reflect on Nelson Mandela's image in the public imagination and his role as a symbol of African pride. Gates, a powerful academic presence in the United States and chair of the department of African American studies at Harvard University, urges South Africans to think creatively about building their archives and suggests the work of W. E. B. Du...
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This lively, engaging and witty collection of lectures brings together the renowned African and African-American scholars - Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates Jr and Wole Soyinka - to reflect on the public meaning of the iconic Nelson Mandela. Any single one of these authors would have been a pleasure to read in his own right, but to have all three of them enjoined in this common intellectual effort is a compelling experience.In this one book you will find the profound philosophical and political interpretations of Cornel West, the story-telling genius and witticism of Henry Louis Gates Jr, and the wisdom of Africa's grand man of letters and the first person of African descent to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka. Graced with a foreword by former chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Meaning of Mandela should be required reading in philosophy and politics departments, a feature in the boardroom and an essential part of your carry-on luggage.
Foreword: Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu viiPreface Xolela Mangcu xiIntroduction Xolela Mangcu xiiiWEB Du Bois, Encyclopedia Africana and Nelson Mandela Henry Louis Gates Jr 1Nelson Mandela: Great exemplar of the grand democratic tradition Cornel West 13Views from a palette of the cultural rainbow Wole Soyinka 24
