Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in the Departments of Anthropology, Political Science and International Affairs at Columbia University, presented a lecture, "Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror," on Thursday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. in Bowl 1, Robertson Hall on the Princeton University Campus. This was the third lecture in the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations 2009 Spring Lecture Series.

Mamdani's research focuses on the intersection between politics and culture, and the politicization of culture in the making of political identities. He pursued this recently in a book on 9/11 that focused on the relationship between American power and political Islam during the Cold War. His core interest has been on colonial and post-colonial Africa, about which he explores the reform/reproduction of colonially-crafted identities through the definition of citizenship in the post-independence period. He has done extended research in South Africa, Rwanda, and Uganda, and his current work is in Nigeria and Sudan.

Mamdani's recent books include Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror (2004), and When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and Genocide in Rwanda (2001).