Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald appointed new director of the African Studies Centre Leiden

Prof. Jan- Bart Gewald has been appointed as the new director of the African Studies Centre Leiden from 1 September 2017 onwards, for a period of five years. Prof. Gewald will be the successor of Prof. Dr Ton Dietz, who will retire in September 2017.

Jan-Bart Gewald grew up in Africa and has lived in Botswana, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ghana, Namibia, Niger, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. He did his Matriculation in Namibia, and his BA in Political Studies and African History at Rhodes University in South Africa, in 1986. He did an MA in History at Leiden University in 1990 and his PhD, also in Leiden, in 1996. He joined the African Studies Centre in Leiden as a researcher in 2003, and became Professor in the History of Southern Africa at the Institute of History, Leiden University as of 1 September 2013, in addition to a position as senior researcher at the African Studies Centre. In 2016 Jan-Bart Gewald became the elected Chair of the Researchers’ Assembly of the ASCL, after the Centre joined Leiden University. On 1 April 2017 his professorial position changed to ‘African History’, at the interfaculty institute ASCL.

Read more about Prof. Gewald on the ASCL website and on the Leiden University website.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the Valedictory Lecture of Professor Ton Dietz on 25 September 2017, and to the Inaugural Festival of six new ASCL Professors, including Professor Gewald, on 9 October 2017, both in the Academy Building (Rapenburg 73, Leiden). Please see www.ascleiden.nl and www.universiteitleiden.nl/en for further announcements.