African Women: Exploding Silences,Talking Back and Claiming Agency

Micere Mugo, a professor of African American studies at Syracuse University, is a poet and playwright. She is a Zimbabwean citizen, a Kenyan by birth and upbringing, a Pan African by identification and an international in orientation. Mugo attended elite white boarding schools as a child and went on to the Makerere University in Uganda. After serving as headmistress at two prestigious all-girl schools, she left Africa to attend the University of New Brunswick in Canada. After returning to Kenya she became the first female academic dean at the University of Nairobi.

She has received numerous international honors and awards, and served as president of the Pan African Community of Central New York. Mugo is a member of and speaker for Amnesty International and a campaigner for the freedom of death row political prisoners.