Thandika mkandawire biography of michael

Thandika Mkandawire, the towering person från malawi economist and public intellectual, went to be with the förfäder on 27 March 2020. Professor Mkandawire liked to be called by his first name, Thandika, even by those, like me, who were significantly younger than he. This always caused problems for those raised in the African tradition of reverence for elders, which manifests in prefixing names with titles. Whenever he was not in earshot, when discussing his work with others, I called him ‘Prof’: ‘Prof says Africa’s problems are as much caused by external forces as they are by internal ones’. When speaking with him, inom mustered all the courage in my bones and called him ‘Thandika’. In this del av helhet, reflecting on his work, I am torn as to what to call him. In one sense I am talking to others about his work. In another I am conversing with him as an ancestor. I shall gather all my courage and call him Thandika.

Thandika belonged to that rare specimen of humanity that could effortlessly combine a

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On March 27, 2020, around mid-morning, my friend Said Adejumobi informed me of the passing of our friend Thandika Mkandawire. I received the news with shock and called my friend Said back to ask him to clarify what he had told me. Both of us remained quiet on phone for some time. We did not seem to believe what we were discussing. Our personal emotions did not allow us to say much.

But immediately after our short and mumbling conversation, I decided to call Bayo Olukoshi in Addis. I thought he would be emotionally stronger to brief me. It was the same on his end too. Involuntarily, I sat down to read the messages that Thandika and I had exchanged in December 2019 and early in January 2020. I turned attention to the selfies we had taken on 9 December 2019 in Nairobi, over, first, several cups of tea, and later, several Tusker beers (for him) and red wine (for me), which he helped select.

Love of data and objectivity

Several reasons made me counter-check the sad news about Thandi

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It is with great sadness and a deep sense of loss that the Council for the Development of Social Science in Africa, CODESRIA, announces the passing away of Professor Thandika Mkandawire on March 27, 2020. Thandika as he was fondly known was a brilliant economist and prodigious scholar whose works on African political economy challenged dominant ways of seeing the African continent on a wide range of issues that included structural adjustment and economic reform, democratic politics, neopatrimonialism and  insurgent violence. Thandika was a very dedicated member of CODESRIA. He led the Council as its Executive Secretary from 1985 to 1996 and continued to play important roles in the life of the organization after moving on to head UNRISD and later taking on a distinguished professorship at the London School of Economics. From 2015-2016, he led the internal review of CODESRIA’s governance and membership whose recommendations underpin an ambitious process of reform that the Council is