The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2025 prize has been awarded to Yonwaba Matshobotiyana of the University of the Free State, South Africa, with a thesis on Black women's poetry in South Africa. The jury was blown away by this strong scholarly contribution to Black feminist thought and the field of decolonial literature studies. 

Describing almost 1400 Africa maps in three months: it’s no small task that student assistants Artemis Mantheakis and Beatriz Veiga have been working on within the joint ASCL-UBL Africa Maps Project. The aim is to describe a 20th-century map collection of the library of the African Studies Centre, that is housed in the Leiden University Libraries (UBL).

In this special section of the journal Conflict and Society, the authors call for attention to 'conflict continuities' to understand contemporary violence. They argue that past violent conflict may serve to generate new conflict, in reworked forms. The special section was initiated by the CRG ‘Conflict continuities’.

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), held in Morocco last December and January, ended in a chaotic final between Senegal and Morocco. From its birth in 1957, AFCON provided recognition and a stage to imagine the continent differently. Those ideals are still tested today, Chaimaa Radouani writes in a new blog post.

Two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) visited Leiden University on 30 January. Their visit underscored the importance of the university’s expertise on Africa, Asia and Latin America in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. MEP Marit Maij discussed knowledge collaboration with Africa.

On 28 January, inside the coral-stone walls of the Lamu Fort Library (Lamu island, Kenyan coast), Annachiara Raia convened a first roundtable dedicated to the question on how to collaborate in safeguarding and connecting enduring heritage along the Swahili coast.