The ASCL is deeply saddened by the news that its former colleague Marieke van Winden passed away on 23 November. Marieke was the ASCL’s communications officer until she retired in June 2019, and still after that, she co-organised the Africa Knows conference. Marieke will be missed tremendously by her former colleagues.

John Kegel has recently started at the ASCL as a postdoc researcher. For three years, he will be doing research into the colonial concessionary companies in sub-Saharan Africa from 1880-1960. 'One could state that most of the land in sub-Saharan Africa was owned by European companies.'

This book, co-edited by Rijk van Dijk, explores local cultural discourses and practices relating to experiences of the demonic, the spectral and the uncanny, probing into their effects on people’s domestic and intimate spheres of life. It contains case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Europe.

Thirteen students of the Master and the Research Master African Studies received their diplomas on 2 November during a festive ceremony in the Academy Building. They gave short presentations about their theses and their experiences during both lockdown and fieldwork. Congrats!

The Africa Yearbook, published by Brill, covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa - all related to developments in one calendar year. Volume 18 of the Africa Yearbook covers developments in 2021. Jon Abbink wrote the chapters on Somalia and Ethiopia, while Klaas van Walraven authored the chapter on Niger.