Christine Mungai
By now, the biographical notes on Zohran Kwame Mamdani are well known. Born in Uganda. Two childhood years in Cape Town. Emigrated to the United States when he was seven. Zohran’s American citizenship was obtained only in 2018, and he’s still a Ugandan citizen. Now, improbably, he’s mayor of New York City.
The more interesting story is how Zohran completes an arc his parents began. The scholarship of his father, Mahmoud Mamdani, has long asked: Who belongs? Who decides? The films of his mother, Mira Nair, explore these questions within the stakes of daily life – how ordinary people live inside borders that were not built for them. Even in Queen of Katwe, the anxiety is there: What happens when a young girl’s dreams threaten to pull her beyond the limits of where she “should” belong?
What strikes me is how Zohran isn’t just engaging these questions: he inhabits them, and becomes the answer.
He has shrugged off every label meant to destabilise him. “Jihadist candidate.” “Terrorist sympathiser.” “Pure communist.” When Zohran’s college application resurfaced – where he’d selected both “Asian” and “Black/African American” – opponents treated it like the ultimate gotcha. But instead of backpedalling into blandness, Zohran went all in. He met the attacks with humour and a willingness to be fully himself. He ate rice with his hands.
Many of us have our own entanglements on the question of belonging. If we can learn anything from Zohran, it’s that leaning into these complexities can be a winning strategy.
Of course, his win wasn’t just on vibes and memes. He mobilised over 100,000 volunteers, the greatest field operation by any candidate in New York City’s history. He centered the material lives of working-class New Yorkers: free buses, childcare, relief for the cost of living. He was someone telling a simple, resonant story – about power, and who it serves.
And it worked.
As an American who used to live in both Uganda and New York City, I love this and am rooting for Mamdani! Love his mother’s work but when I first heard his name, my first thought was, “I wonder if he’s related to Professor Mahmood Mamdani. Zorhan’s father is a gifted and important intellectual and has contributed immensely to African scholarship. Love this family.