As New Yorkers cast their ballots in one of the city’s most closely watched mayoral races, the rise of Democrat Zohran Mamdani has put the spotlight not only on his politics, but also on the family that helped shape his opinion.
From Kampala to the town hall
Born in 1991 in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani is the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani. The couple’s transcontinental life—spanning Africa, India, and the United States—profoundly influenced Zohran’s global perspective and political values.
His early years were spent in Uganda and South Africa before the family moved to New York in 1999 when Mahmood joined the faculty at Columbia University. They settled on the Upper West Side, with Zohran later becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2018.
Mira Nair: Narrator
Born in 1957 in Rourkela, India, Mira Nair is an acclaimed filmmaker known for exploring identity, migration and cultural intersections. A Harvard graduate, Nair’s debut film Salaam Bombay! (1988) won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination.
Her subsequent works – Mississippi Masala (1991), Monsoon Wedding (2001) and The Namesake (2006) – cemented her reputation for blending narrative with social insight.
Mahmood Mamdani: Scholar
Born in Mumbai in 1946 and raised in Kampala, Zohran’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, is one of Africa’s most respected scholars of colonialism and political violence. He was expelled from Uganda in 1972 during the Idi Amin regime and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1974.
Now a professor of government and anthropology at Columbia University, Mahmood is known for his 1996 book Citizen and Subject, which introduced the influential concept of the “bifurcated state”—a framework for understanding postcolonial governance in Africa.
He has led institutions from the University of Dar-es-Salaam to Makerere University and the University of Cape Town. From 2010 to 2022, he directed the Makerere Institute of Social Research, redeveloping it into a center for postcolonial studies.
Mahmood’s outspoken pro-Palestinian stance has made him a controversial figure among pro-Israel advocacy groups. He criticized Israel’s occupation policies and accused Columbia University of abandoning due process during the campus protests — positions his son espoused in his own political rhetoric.
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The marriage of ideas and art
Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani met in 1989 when she was researching Mississippi Masala in Uganda. Nair intended to interview Mahmood about his book From Citizen to Refugee – instead they fell in love. They married in 1991 and welcomed Zohran the same year.
Their shared commitment to social justice, global identity and storytelling clearly influenced Zohran’s political ethos.
Zohran’s wife: Rama Duwaji, an artist from Damascus
In addition to the legacy of his parents, Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Sawaf Duwaji (27), also became public. The Brooklyn-based Syrian illustrator and visual artist met Mamdani on the dating app Hinge. Bonding over their love of art and music, the two later married in early 2025 at City Hall in New York City.
Born in Damascus, Duwaji earned a BFA in Communication Design from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her clients include The New Yorker, The Washington Post, VICE, BBC, Apple, Spotify, Tate Modern and Cartier.
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