News & Events

In many Muslim contexts across West Africa, the Hausa concept of 'boko' has come to mean a Western style of education, in contrast with 'adini', or Islamic religiosity. In this co-organised LUCIS/ASCL lecture on 11 May, Abdoulaye Sounaye will discuss the relationship between boko and adini in the light of contemporary Islamic dynamics in West Africa.

AEGIS, the network of Europe-based institutions with a focus on research and education on Africa and African Studies, has launched a brand-new website. The site has been enlivened and restructured, important information updated, and a number of new features added.

Every year, April 17 is observed as World Hemophilia Day. It is an international awareness day for hemophilia and other bleeding disorders . The theme of the event this year is 'Access for All: Prevention of bleeds as the global standard of care'.

The project 'Almeda', African Literary Metadata, convened by Professor Ashleigh Harris of Uppsala University, has received an ERC grant for five years. Ursula Oberst of the ASCL Library will take part in it and contribute to Almeda with her metadata expertise. The project will produce new metadata about African literature.

Robert Okello, winner of the Africa Thesis Award 2022, will be handed over his award during a ceremony on 20 April which you can follow online. Robert wrote his thesis on rural women’s legal empowerment through digital technology in Northern Uganda. He will give a presentation about his thesis before receiving the prize from the chair of the jury, Prof. Margriet van der Waal.

On 5 April 1968, Togolese writer and educator Félix Couchoro died in Lomé at the age of 68. He was one of the first African novelists, the inventor of chapbooks in Francophone Africa, a master of serial writing and the author of more than twenty novels.

The ASCL Library has complemented its catalogue with scholarly work on security and crime in Lusophone Africa in order to address an academic gap in research on this subject in the Netherlands. Gabriel Pinto Stiebler worked on this project during his three month internship at the library. A small exhibition of books and other materials can be seen in the library.

The African Studies Centre Leiden is very sad to report that in the morning of 28 March Dr Harrie Leyten passed away, 87 years of age. With his demise we lose a dear friend and an Africanist who has inspired countless people about Africa, its peoples and its art. Harrie defended his PhD in 2015. Read the 'In Memoriam' written by his friend and former promotor Wouter van Beek.

On 31 March 2021, Angolan poet and scholar Arlindo Barbeitos, in full Arlindo do Carmo Pires Barbeitos, died in Luanda at the age of 80. 

Indy Koster, student of the Research Master African Studies, collaborates with REEFolution for her thesis research. This NGO in Shimoni, a coastal village in south eastern Kenya, aims to restore the degraded coral reefs. Indy collects data both under water, to analyse the condition of the reef, and on land, interviewing female stakeholders.