The African Studies Centre Leiden is sad to report that Laurens van der Laan passed away in Oegstgeest on 22 March 2024. Van der Laan was a researcher at the African Studies Centre in Leiden from 1969 till his retirement in 1997. Van der Laan’s main publications are on the economy and trade in West Africa, particularly on Sierre Leone.
On 4 April Rose Boswell (Nelson Mandela University) will present the 'Blue Values Journey', a project that seeks to bring academia, the private sector and government together to advance the resilience of coastal communities in times of climate change and coastal development. Focus is on South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Seychelles.
The Quagga was literally shot out of existence as a species in the second half of the 19th century, with the last attested reports of Quagga in the wild dated to 1878 in South Africa. In a new ASCL Working Paper Jan-Bart Gewald explores the possible connection between the rise of diamond mining in South Africa and the passing of the quagga.
The Jury of the Africa Thesis Award is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023 Award is Rachel Dubale, graduate from the Research Master African Studies at Leiden University, with her thesis “They think we can eat the condominium”. Chronicles of Economic, Social and Political Practices in Addis Ababa’s Condominiums.