News & Events

On 27 May 1977, one of the most famous Bissau-Guinean poets and musicians of the 20th century, José Carlos Schwarz, died near Havana at the age of 27. His works and actions have inspired generations of musicians, but he remains little known beyond the borders of his country.

Are you interested in Africa and is your master's thesis on a related subject? If so, the African Studies Centre Leiden is offering you the chance to win € 500,-. Moreover, your thesis will be published in the ASCL's African Studies Collection. Deadline: 31 August 2023.

Prof. Chibuike Uche, the Stephen Ellis Chair of the Governance of Finance and Integrity in Africa, has accepted an invitation by the editors to join the Editorial Advisory Board of Business History Review. BHR is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Harvard Business School. 

The ASCL Library has created a list of selected web resources on the recent violence in Sudan. It contains online articles, blogs, infographics, podcasts and videos, most of which are freely accessible. Subscribe to the ASCL Library alert service if you wish to receive updates on this list. 

This month’s Library Highlight turns the spotlight on the most recent book by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò: Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously. In it, Nigerian-born Táíwò cautions readers against the overarching application of the concept of 'decolonisation' to an ever-growing range of scientific disciplines and aspects of life.

The European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) will be hosted by the University of Cologne, Germany, from 31 May to 3 June. Some 35 researchers from the ASCL and Leiden University will convene a panel or present a paper.

The Library has noticed that regularly clients, notably students, do not have a DVD player at their disposal anymore. Because the extensive film collection of the library - more than 2000 films - is still on DVD, the library recently purchased an external DVD drive which can be borrowed together with one or more DVDs. 

Since the early nineteenth century, the things which Black South Africans have had in their homes have changed completely. Thus they claimed modernity, respectability and political inclusion. This book by Robert Ross argues that the desire to possess such goods formed a major part of the drive behind the anti-apartheid struggle.

Klaas de Jonge died on 5 May 2023. Klaas worked as a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre from 1968-1980. He became front page news in 1985 when he was holed up in the Dutch embassy in Pretoria, as a fugitive from the South African police. Read the In Memoriam written by Ineke van Kessel.

On 24 April 2016, Congolese singer and musician Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, known professionally as Papa Wemba died at the age of 66 after collapsing on stage in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, during the FEMUA urban music festival. Dubbed the 'King of Rumba Rock', he was one of the most popular musicians of his time in Africa and played an important role in world music.