An African Hero Shares his Story at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Celestin Monga, a leading African intellectual, will give a presentation about his recent book Un Bantou à Washington, (From Cameroonian Jails to the World Bank) (Presses Universitaires de France, 2007) on Thursday, March 13 at 4 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk, about Monga’s exile experience and his new book, is free and open to the public.

In the early 90’s, Monga was a banker in Douala, Cameroon, who routinely criticized Cameroonian politics. Through his writing he became one of Africa’s leading intellectuals and a hero after being thrown in jail for criticizing the President in an opinion piece he wrote for a local newspaper. This caused a huge movement of revolt in the country. Several people died during these riots across the country.

Monga is currently the lead economist/advisor to the senior vice president and chief economist of World Bank in Washington D.C. In this role he designs, leads, implements and monitors major macroeconomic programs in both middle-income and low-income countries and helps shape the strategic direction of the bank.

Monga is the author of several books on economics and political science, including The Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa (1996), which has become a required text at many colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is currently working on a book titled Macroeconomic Issues in Low-Income Countries with François Bourguignon.

A graduate of Harvard University, MIT, and universities of Paris 1 Sorbonne, Bordeaux and Pau (France), Monga holds a Ph.D. in political economy and master’s degrees in political science, management and finance, and public administration.

Prior to his current position at the World Bank, Monga taught at Boston University and the University of Bordeaux and worked as a commercial banker in Cameroon. He also served on the Board of Governors of the Sloan Fellows Program at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He received the 2007 Leadership Award of the Cameroon Students’ Association-USA.