Where did Zohran Mamdani attend college and what did he study?
Executive summary
Zohran Kwame Mamdani attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Africana studies [1] [2]. Reporting from Bowdoin and multiple news outlets also documents his campus activism and student‑press work during that period, which outlets link to his later political formation [3] [4].
1. College attended: Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
Public records and contemporary reporting place Mamdani at Bowdoin College for his undergraduate education; multiple outlets identify him expressly as a Bowdoin alumnus and note his graduation year as 2014 [1] [4] [2]. Bowdoin itself and college reporting have celebrated his trajectory from the campus to public office, confirming the institutional connection [5] [3].
2. Field of study: Bachelor’s degree in Africana studies
Biographical summaries and profiles state that Mamdani earned a bachelor’s degree majoring in Africana studies at Bowdoin College, a fact repeated across encyclopedia‑style sources and local press coverage [1] [2] [6]. These sources portray Africana studies as the academic anchor for his undergraduate intellectual formation and link that coursework to his later public positions [1] [7].
3. Campus activity that contextualizes the major
Beyond the diploma, campus reporting documents Mamdani’s substantive engagement: he co‑founded Bowdoin’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and contributed to the student newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient, where he wrote opinion and news pieces—activities that contemporaneous profiles and the college paper say helped sharpen his organizing skills and political voice [4] [3] [1]. Those extracurriculars are frequently cited by media pieces drawing a line between his college experiences and his later policy positions [3] [4].
4. How sources frame the education—and competing narratives
Mainstream and institutional sources frame Bowdoin and Mamdani’s Africana studies major as formative and consistent with his community organizing path, a line emphasized by the college’s own communications and student recollections [5] [3]. Critics and ideological outlets, however, use the same facts to advance different readings: some commentators argue Bowdoin’s intellectual environment reinforced existing political tendencies or sought to brand his background as emblematic of elite campus radicalism, an angle explicit in commentary pieces that scrutinize Bowdoin’s culture [8]. Both perspectives rely on the same core facts—attendance at Bowdoin and an Africana studies degree—but diverge sharply in interpretation, so readers should note each source’s likely editorial stance [5] [8].
5. What the reporting does not show
Available reporting consistently identifies the college and major but does not provide a detailed transcript of coursework, grades, or a comprehensive academic record; such granular academic details are not present in the cited news and institutional pieces [1] [3] [5]. Therefore, claims about specific courses taken, academic honors, or the precise curriculum that most influenced his thinking are outside the scope of the cited sources and cannot be asserted from them.
6. Bottom line
The factual record in multiple independent and institutional sources is clear: Zohran Mamdani attended Bowdoin College in Maine and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Africana studies, and his campus activism and student‑press work are repeatedly cited as formative elements of his subsequent political career [1] [2] [3] [4].