Born in Kampala, raised in Cape Town in post-apartheid South Africa and politically awakened in New York’s Queens, Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s journey to becoming the Democratic contender for mayor of the US’ largest city reads like a map of the modern diaspora.

A self-declared democratic socialist whom President Trump has branded a “100% Communist Lunatic”, Mamdani had beaten the man who polls suggested would sail to the nomination — Andrew Cuomo, scion of a political dynasty and governor of New York state from 2011-21.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani was born on 18 October 1991, in Kampala, Uganda, into a household where intellect and artistic vision intertwined with political sensibility. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a widely respected scholar whose work on African politics and postcolonial theory has earned international recognition.