The recent tariff wars, ignited by President Trump after he returned to the White House in 2025, have raised important questions for Africa, especially in the arena of trade and tariffs and their impact on economic development. On 18-19 June, the ASCL will host a conference on Trade, Tariffs, and Development in Africa.

The week of 8 June marked the official launch of VOICE: Learning Globally, Acting Locally. The education programme brings together facilitators from eleven institutions across four partner countries, and forty participants from more than ten countries have signed up.

Submit your Africa-related master’s thesis for the Africa Thesis Award 2026, have it published and win € 500! The Africa Thesis Award is an annual initiative by the African Studies Centre Leiden and Brill that recognises outstanding master’s theses.

We are very sad to report that our former colleague, friend and mentor Professor Fantu Cheru passed on on Sunday 31 May. Fantu worked as a senior researcher at the ASCL from 2014 to 2019. Former colleagues Mohamed Salih (ISS) and Jon Abbink (ASCL) wrote an obituary in his honour.

On the occasion of Jon Abbink's emeritus status, the volume Ethnography, History, and the Politics of Knowledge in Africa has been created in his honour. It is a Festschrift to celebrate Abbink's wide-ranging career covering culture and politics in Ethiopia and Africa in general. 

On 2 June, Martin Luther Darko, Kauthar Khamis and Rashida Adum-Atta successfully defended their PhD theses at Leiden University within the Madina Project. Mare interviewed the three new doctors, alongside Madina Project alumnus Joseph Fosu-Ankrah.