On the 4th of December 2024, the 10th edition of the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture will be celebrated with a special programme. Koert Lindijer, well-known journalist and author of African affairs, and Africa correspondent for the Dutch news platforms NOS and NRC, will be this year’s keynote speaker.

Northern Rhodesia became independent on 24 October 1964 as Zambia. Read about the country's history, demographic and social-economic developments over the past 60 years in our latest Infosheet. It is the final Infosheet in the series about African countries that became independent in the 1960s!

Thirteen students of the Master and the Research Master African Studies received their diplomas on 22 October. The festive ceremony took place in the Academy Building in Leiden. Six of the students graduated cum laude!

On 8 October the Herta Mohr Building, the new home of the ASCL, was officially opened. Presentations took place in the various world institutes that are gathered in this part of the Humanities Campus. Lidewyde Berckmoes and Marieke Maagdenberg launched their book TRACES, sharing precious stories about Burundi and its diaspora.

International development mechanisms determine and dominate approaches to urban development, but what is rarely seen are the ingenious innovations that offer alternative development approaches in urban spaces. This seminar on 21 November by Prof. Shuaib Lwasa (Erasmus University Rotterdam) will explore some of the levers for harnessing these opportunities.

Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald receives an NWO Open Competition grant to conduct research on mining history in Southern Africa. The project will investigate the environmental history of three industrial mining centres in southern Africa. It will describe and analyse the long-term impact of mining in southern Africa on more than humans alone.