New publications

This thematic map gives insight into Africa's population dynamics between 1960 and 2010. Africa's population has grown rapidly over the last fifty years: from 289 million inhabitants in 1961 to more than 1 billion today. The number of urban residents has increased even more quickly: from 65 million in 1960 to 460 million today. The average life expectancy, literacy rates and primary-school attendance figures have also all increased spectacularly. Changes in the structure of Africa's population are evident in the continent's population pyramid. A 'youth bulge' can be seen in Southern Africa's population statistics. The expectation is that there will be a relatively high number of 10-30 year olds across the continent over the next few decades.

After almost fifty years of Dutch-Zambian relationships, the Netherlands Embassy in Lusaka closed its doors in 2013. Earlier, the development cooperation with this country was ended. A lively Dutch community of entrepreneurs and (former) development workers stay behind. How do they and also Zambians look back on the Dutch involvement? Did the Dutch presence mean anything substantial from the perspectives of those involved? This ASC publication by historian Anne-Lot Hoek gives a unique insight in the history of Dutch presence in Zambia.

The Suri of Southwest Ethiopia, with their spectacular body painting and decorative culture, have become known as a prime object of the tourist gaze, yet have not always been depicted in a responsible way. This book by ASC researcher Jan Abbink, linguist Michael Bryant and former language teacher Daniel Bambu presents the Suri as a contemporary people that face many new economic, social and cultural challenges. It covers the social organization, historical background and the way of life of this agro-pastoralist group. The book also contains linguistic overviews and a selection of Suri oral texts, presented in an annotated form.

In 1994, Rwanda experienced the worst genocide in Africa in modern times. The UN General Assembly has designated 7 April as International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda. To coincide with this, the ASC’s Library has compiled a web dossier that contains recently published titles on the genocide, the process of reconciliation and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. All titles are available in the ASC Library. The web dossier also contains a selection of ten important titles on the genocide and links to relevant websites.

The last few years have seen a huge amount of interest in the hotly contested issue of ‘land grabbing’ - the large-scale acquisition of land in the global South. It is a phenomenon against which locals seem defenceless, and one about which multilateral organizations such as the World Bank as well as civil-society organizations have become increasingly vocal. This in-depth volume edited by ASC researcher Mayke Kaag and Annelies Zoomers of Utrecht University takes a step back from the hype to explore a number of key questions: does the ‘global land grab’ actually exist? And what are the real problems?