By Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, PhD, 5/2/25 Professor Emeritus, UNC-Chapel Hill Former DRC Ambassador to the United Nations — Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, the esteemed and internationally renowned scholar by his philosophy, novels, and poems, left the earthly world to return to the universe of the wise on April 22, 2025. He was born on December 8, 1941, in

By Tshilemalema Mukenge, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Morris Brown College — Valentin Yves Mudimbe and I knew each other and yet have not really known each other. Our lives intersected at some points over many years. We both attended Lovanium University in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the early 1960s. He was in the

By Kasongo M. Kapanga, PhD University of Richmond, Virginia; 5/1/25 — Professor V. Y. Mudimbe and Pope Francis passed away in the same week, that is, on April 22 and April 28th, respectively. Mudimbe was many things wrapped up into a tiny, frail, but brainy body. He was a novelist, a poet, an essayist, and