New publications

Knowledge about religion and spirituality is essential in dealing with migrants of West African descent in the Netherlands who may be victims of human trafficking. This is the main conclusion of a study conducted by the Centre against Child and Human Trafficking (CKM), the African Studies Centre Leiden, and the University of Humanistic Studies. A culture-sensitive approach in which knowledge about religion and spirituality is included is a primary condition for communication with this target group. 

The authors of this article, published open access in Health Systems & Reform, use three years of household panel data to analyse the effects of ill-health on household economic outcomes in rural Ethiopia. They examine the immediate effects of various ill-health measures on health expenditure and labour supply, the subsequent coping responses, and finally the effect on income and consumption. The need for health financing reforms and safety nets that reduce the financial consequences of ill-health is underlined.

The stakes of longitudinal ethnographic research come to the fore particularly starkly in relation to studies of violence. More specifically, longitudinality potentially both enhances certain risks inherent to carrying out research on violence, while also offering unique opportunities for better understanding the phenomenon more reflexively. Lidewyde Berckmoes, Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard and Dennis Rodgers wrote an introduction to a special volume of Conflict and Society. Open access!

On the occasion of the Africa 2020 year, the ASCL created Infosheets about the countries that became independent in 1960. One year later, Sierra Leone was the next in line: on 27 April 1961 it gained political independence from the United Kingdom. Read about the country's recent history, its demographic, social-economic and agricultural developments and regional inequality.

This volume, based on papers that were given at the conference 'Destination Africa' (held in March 2018), challenges received ideas of Africa as a marginal continent and place of exodus by considering the continent as a centre of global connectivity and confluence. Flows of people, goods, and investments towards Africa have increased and diversified over recent decades. In light of these changes, the contributions analyse new actors in such diverse fields as education, trade, infrastructure, and tourism.