Andile Mngxitama (South Africa)

Andile Mngxitama was born and raised on the farms of Potchefstroom in the North West Province to a farm worker and a domestic worker.

Mngxitama, who holds an MA in sociology from the University of Witwatersarand, is a leading Black Consciousness thinker and organizer. He co-edited Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko, a collection of essays on the philosophy and writings of B.C. leader, Steve Biko. The collection looks at the ongoing significance of Black Consciousness, situating it in a global framework, examining the legacy of Biko, the current state of post-apartheid South African politics, and the culture and history of the anti-apartheid movements.

On Biko Lives!, Martin Murray, a Professor of Sociology at SUNY Binghamton comments, “Taken as a whole, this collection of essays is an important addition to the scholarship on Steve Biko. It contributes not only to a deeper understanding of what philosophy is, but also how Biko's writing can be considered philosophical."

In 2009, Mngxitama published the first four essays in the New Frank Talk series, a journal of critical essays in which the writer uses his broad political knowledge, razor-sharp wit and powerful debate skills to examine the black condition. His popular essay Blacks Can't be Racist, the third to be published in the series, has been prescribed by universities together with Why Biko Wouldn’t Vote. Mngxitama is also a columnist for the Sowetan and City Press newspapers.

On his writing, he comments: “I think of myself as a window-cleaner; writing is one of the key tools I use to clean those dirty windows in people’s minds.”

Mngxitama will be launching the fifth issue of the New Frank Talk series titled White Revolutionaries as Missionaries? at the festival.

Bibliography

New Frank Talk - White Revolutionaries as Missionaries, Sankara Publishing, 2010
New Frank Talk - From Mbeki to Zuma, Sankara Publishing, 2009
New Frank Talk - Blacks Can’t be Racist, Sankara Publishing, 2009
New Frank Talk - Why Biko Wouldn’t Vote, Sankara Publishing, 2009
New Frank Talk - Black Colonialists: the Trouble with Africa, Sankara Publishing, 2009
Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko (ed. with Amanda Alexander, and Nigel C. Gibson), Palgrave Macmillan, 2008