Charles Tonderai Mudede (; born February 8, 1969) is a Zimbabwean writer, filmmaker,Patricia O'Brien (a.k.a. OlallieLake)
Charles Mudede
short documentary film. Uploaded to YouTube 2007-07-27. Accessed 2012-12-20. and leftwing cultural critic. Though born in

Kwekwe Kwekwe ( ), known until 1983 as Que Que, is a city in the Midlands province of central Zimbabwe. The city has a population of 119,863 within the city limits, as of the 2022 census, making it the 7th-largest city in Zimbabwe and the second-most p ...

(then called Que Que,

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

), he spent much of his childhood in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and returned to

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

shortly after independence.Charles Mudede
Our Wars: Three Vignettes from Thirty Years Ago in Africa
''The Stranger'', 2010-08-16. Accessed 2012-12-20. Between 1982 and 1988, his mother, Tracy Mudede, was a lecturer at the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University o ...

, and his father, Ebenezer Mudede, was an economist for the Zimbabwe government. Between 1990 and 2001, his father worked as an economist for the

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

government and his mother lectured at the

University of Botswana The University of Botswana, popularly known as UB, was established in 1982 as the first institution of higher education in Botswana. The university has three campuses: one in the capital city Gaborone, one in Francistown, and another in Maun. T ...

. In 1989, he moved to the US to study literature, art history, and political philosophy. His parents moved to the US from Botswana in 2002 for medical reasons. The Mudedes are Manicas and were once close to Bishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa, the prime minister of the short-lived coalition government called

Zimbabwe Rhodesia Zimbabwe Rhodesia (), alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, and sometimes as Rhobabwe, was a short-lived sovereign state that existed from 1 June to 12 December 1979. Zimbabwe Rhodesia was p ...

(1979–1980). Mudede is currently Associate Editor for the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based weekly ''The Stranger'', as well as a lecturer at Cornish College of the Arts. His ''

Police Beat ''Police Beat'' is a 2005 American crime film directed by Robinson Devor and written by Charles Mudede. It follows the life of an African-born Seattle bicycle officer simply known as "Z" for a week. While Z goes about on his policing duties, he ...

'' column was turned into a film of the same name in 2004. The movie was selected for competition at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

2005. In 2003, Mudede published a short book called ''Last Seen'' with Diana George. Mudede was also a member of the now defunct Seattle Research Institute, a Marxist circle inspired by the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School (german: Frankfurter Schule) is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), dur ...

and the work of Hardt and Negri. SRI published two books, ''Politics Without The State'' and ''Experimental Theology.'' (Mudede and George edited the former.) Mudede has also published essays and articles with Nic Veroli, a French-American Marxist philosopher, and is on the editorial board for ''Arcade'', an architectural journal. Mudede's work has appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', and '' Ctheory,'' which published one of his most popular pieces of writing, "The Turntable," a theory of the hip hop practice of scratching and sampling. In addition to his journalistic career, Mudede is also a filmmaker and screenwriter. In 2019, he directed and co-wrote the feature film ''Thin Skin'', about a jazz trumpeter in Seattle whose estranged

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

father re-enters his life. He has also co-written three independent films with director

Robinson Devor Robinson Devor is an American film director, screenwriter and editor. He is also a film professor at Cornish College of the Arts. Devor has directed both documentaries as well as fiction films; his filmography includes narrative works such as '' ...

. ''

'' (2005), adapted from Mudede's weekly column for The Stranger, follows a Muslim-American police officer on his bicycle patrol around Seattle. ''

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

'' is a movie about the late Kenneth Pinyan and the Enumclaw stallion incident. Mudede also co-wrote Devor's film ''You Can't Win'', starring

Michael Pitt Michael Carmen Pitt (born April 10, 1981) is an American actor, model, and musician. Pitt is known in film for his roles in ''Murder by Numbers'' (2002), Bernardo Bertolucci's '' The Dreamers'' (2003), Gus Van Sant's '' Last Days'' (2005), and M ...

, based on a 1926 hobo memoir. The movie was filmed in 2012 but has yet to be released. As an actor, Mudede played a priest in '' The Naked Proof'', released in 2003.

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