Manthia Diawara

Manthia Diawara
Born	December 19, 1953 Bamako, Mali
Occupation	Writer, filmmaker, theorist, professor, producer
Nationality	Mali/U.S.A.
Genres	Film, history, literature, theory, art history
Subjects	Africana Studies, Film Studies, Comparative Literature, Art History

Manthia Diawara is a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian. Diawara holds the distinguished title of University Professor at New York University, where he is Director of the Institute of Afro-American Affairs.

Biography

Diawara was born in Bamako, Mali and received his early education in France.^[1] He later received a Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1985. Prior to teaching at NYU, Diawara taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Much of his research has been in the field of black cultural studies, though his work has differed from the traditional approach to such study formulated in Britain in the early 1980s. Along with other notable recent scholars, Diawara has sought to incorporate consideration of the material conditions of African-Americans to provide a broader context for the study of African diasopric culture. An aspect of this formulation has been the privileging of "Blackness" in all its possible forms rather than as relevant to a single, perhaps monolithic definition of black culture.^[2]

Diawara has contributed significantly to the study of black film. In 1992, Indiana University Press published his African Cinema: Politics & Culture and in 1993, Routledge published a volume he edited titled Black-American Cinema. A filmmaker himself, Diawara has written and directed a number of films.^[3]

His 1998 book In Search of Africa is an account of his return to his childhood home of Guinea and was published by Harvard University Press.^[4]

Diawara is the editor-in-chief of Black Renaissance Noire, a journal of arts, culture, and politics dedicated to work that engages contemporary Black concerns. He serves on the advisory board of October, and is also on the editorial collective of Public Culture.^[5]

In 2003, Diawara released We Wont Budge: A Malaria Memoir, the title a tribute to Salif Keita's anthemic protest song Nou Pas Bouger.^[6]

Diawara serves on the board of TransAfrica Forum, alongside Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, and Walter Mosely, which supported Barack Obama's successful candidacy for President in 2008.^[7]

Fellowships and Honors

Jury Member, The National Black Programming Consortium, Inc., Columbus, OH, 1992, 1989; Jury Member, The Paul Robeson Award, The Pan-African Film Festival of Ouagadougou, 1987; NAACP Top of the Mountain Award, 1998.^[8]

Works

Selected Bibliography

Books (author)

• Diawara, Manthia (1992). African Cinema: Politics and Culture (First ed.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 025320707X. 
• Diawara, Manthia (1998). In Search of Africa (First ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674004086. 
• Levinthal, David; Diawara, Manthia (1999). Blackface (First ed.). Santa Fe, NM: Arena. ISBN 1892041065. 
• Diawara, Manthia (2003). We Won't Budge: An Exile in the World (First ed.). New York: Basic Civitas Books. ISBN 0465017096. 
• Diawara, Manthia; Knape, Gunilla; Magnin, Andre (2004). Malick Sidibe: Photographs (First ed.). Germany: Steidl/Hasselblad Center. ISBN 3882439734. 

Books (editor)

• Diawara, Manthia (1993). Black American Cinema (AFI Film Readers) (First ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 0415903971. 
• Baker, Houston; Diawara, Manthia; Lindeborg, Ruth H. (1996). Black British Cultural Studies: A Reader (Black Literature and Culture Series) (First ed.). Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226144828. 
• Mosely, Walter; Diawara, Manthia; Taylor, Clyde; Austin, Regina (1999). Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems (First ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co.. ISBN 0393319784. 

Articles

• Diawara, Manthia (4 May 2003). "Lives: The Pretender". The New York Times Magazine: 108.  [1].

Filmography

• Sembene: the Making of African Cinema, 1994.
• Rouch in Reverse, 1995.
• In Search of Africa, 1997.
• Conakry Kas, 2003.
• Bamako Siki Kan, 2003.
• Who’s Afraid of Ngugi?, 2006.
• Masion Tropicale, 2008.

References

1. ^ Faculty profile at NYU
2. ^ Manthia Diawara Biographical Sketch from blackculturalstudies.org
3. ^ IMDB: Manthia Diawara
4. ^ Harvard University Press: In Search of Africa by Manthia Diawara
5. ^ MIT Press Journals: October
6. ^ The Independent: Musical memories of an African in Paris. 10 March 2006
7. ^ Libération: Black à part, an interview with Manthia Diawara. 28 October 2008
8. ^ Faculty profile: Africana Studies at NYU

Persondata
Name	Diawara, Manthia.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 19, 1953
Place of birth	Bamako, Mali
Date of death
Place of death