Alamin Mazrui holds a PhD in linguistics from Stanford University, with a specialization in political sociology of language. Over the years, he has taught a wide range of subjects -- including linguistics, literature, Islam and identity, culture and politics, and Swahili studies -- at universities in East Africa, West Africa, and the United States.
Mazrui has also served as a consultant to non-governmental organizations in Africa on issues such as language and urbanization and language and the law. In addition, he has contributed to several major scholarly projects and organizations, including the Stanford Global Shakespeare Encyclopedia, Research in African Literatures, the Studies in Global Africa Series Project, the UNESCO History of Africa Translation Project, and the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research.
Mazrui has a longstanding interest in human rights and civil liberties and has authored policy reports on these subjects. He has (co)authored more than a dozen books, (co)edited eight volumes, and published numerous articles and book chapters on the political sociology of language, educational policy, Islam and globalization, literature, and culture, in leading journals and edited collections. In addition to his scholarly work, Mazrui is a published Swahili poet and playwright.