Where and when was Mahmood Mamdani born (year and place)?

1. Why multiple authorities say “Bombay, 1946” — the bulk of the evidence

A majority of the supplied biographical entries identify Mahmood Mamdani’s birthplace as Bombay (now Mumbai) and his birth year as 1946, often with the full birthdate 23 April 1946, reflecting consistent reporting across encyclopedic and institutional profiles. Sources that state this include a general encyclopedia-style page and educational profiles that explicitly give the date and place, and a 2025 news profile referencing his family origins and upbringing that aligns with the 1946 Mumbai claim ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. These entries are derived from standard biographical compilations and media reporting, which tend to be updated and cross-checked; their convergence on the same date/place strengthens confidence in the 1946/Bombay attribution while indicating institutional acceptance of that detail ^{[1] [3]}.

2. The minority voice: a 1947 entry and why it matters

At least one authoritative reference entry in the dataset records 1947 as Mamdani’s birth year and does not state a birthplace, creating a discrepancy with the 1946/Bombay narrative. That entry — an Oxford-style reference listed in the collection — explicitly uses 1947 for Mamdani’s birth year without citing a location ^[5]. Discrepancies of this kind commonly arise from transcription errors, differing archival sources, or editorial choices in reference works, and while a single divergent citing does not overturn a majority consensus, it warrants noting because reference works like the one in question are often used for academic citations and can propagate alternate dates if left unflagged ^[5].

3. How contemporary reporting and institutional bios align with 1946

Recent media profiles and institutional biographies from universities and reputable outlets reiterate the 1946 Bombay birth detail and add corroborating context about Mamdani’s upbringing in East Africa and his academic trajectory, which helps situate the 1946 date in a broader life chronology. A 2025 news piece summarizing his family background and career explicitly states he was born in Mumbai in 1946 and raised in Kampala, matching the encyclopedic and educational profiles in the corpus ^{[4] [3]}. When institutional and journalistic sources converge, they create a practical consensus used by researchers and journalists, reinforcing the 1946/Bombay account even when an older reference offers an alternate year ^{[4] [3]}.

4. Assessing reliability: source types and potential causes of conflict

The dataset contains different source categories — crowd-edited encyclopedias, kid-friendly summaries, university profiles, and a major news outlet — each with distinct editorial processes. University and major-media bios typically undergo fact-checking and are frequently updated, while some reference works or derivative summaries may lag or contain isolated errors, which explains why an Oxford-style entry in the set lists 1947 while the rest list 1946 ^{[2] [5] [4]}. The absence of a birthplace in the 1947 entry reduces its weight on the birthplace question specifically, whereas multiple entries that include both date and place provide stronger corroboration for Bombay, 1946 ^{[5] [1] [3]}.

5. Final determination and how to report the information responsibly

Based on the balance of the supplied evidence, the responsible factual statement is: Mahmood Mamdani was born on 23 April 1946 in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India, while noting that a minority reference records 1947 as his birth year without specifying a place. Report the 1946/Bombay attribution as the standard accepted fact while appending a brief caveat about the isolated 1947 citation to prevent propagation of unexamined discrepancies in academic or journalistic work ^{[1] [2] [5]}.