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About Maulana
Maulana Karenga is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where he has served since 1989. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Ethics with a focus on the classical African ethics of ancient Egypt from the University of Southern California (1994), a Ph.D. in Political Science with an emphasis on the theory and practice of nationalism from United States International University (1976), an M.A. in Political Science specializing in African Studies (1964), and a B.A. cum laude in Political Science (1963), all from the University of California, Los Angeles. His extensive teaching career spans numerous institutions, including University of California, Riverside (1984-1989), San Diego State University, University of Washington, Seattle, California State University, Los Angeles, and California State University, Dominguez Hills. Karenga's research specializations encompass Black and Africana Studies theory and history, Africana philosophy (continental and diasporan), Maatian ethics from ancient Egypt, Ifa ethics from ancient Yoruba, African American intellectual history and social thought, ethnic studies, and the socio-ethical thought of Malcolm X. He teaches courses such as Introduction to Africana Studies, Critical Thinking in Africana Studies, Ancient Egyptian Ethical Thought, and Ethnic Experience in the U.S.
Karenga is the creator of Kwanzaa, the African American and Pan-African holiday established in 1966 to celebrate family, community, and culture. He has authored numerous influential works, including Introduction to Black Studies (3rd edition, 2002; 4th edition later), Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics (2006), Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle (2008), Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture (1998), Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings (1999), Kawaida: A Communitarian African Philosophy (1997), Selections from the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt (1984), and co-edited Handbook of Black Studies (2005) with Molefi Asante. His scholarship has earned major awards, including the Cheikh Anta Diop Award for Excellence in Scholarship for Maat (2004) and for Activist Scholarship for Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle (2009), multiple National Council for Black Studies honors such as the C.L.R. James Award, National Leadership Award, and President's Award, the Paul Robeson-Zora Neale Hurston Award, and the Legacy Award from the Institute of the Black World. Karenga serves on editorial boards for the Journal of Black Studies, Western Journal of Black Studies, and The Black Scholar, and holds leadership roles as Executive Director of the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies and the African American Cultural Center, and National Chairman of The Organization Us and the National Association of Kawaida Organizations.
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