News & Events

Simone Reinders wrote a blog on behalf of a Leiden Edinburgh Research Group that focuses on inequalities in higher education in Africa. She asked two experts on higher education in Ethiopia: How have COVID-19 and the consequent shutdown of universities affected equity and inclusivity?

This book, published in 2019, explores Africa’s vulnerability to disease and epidemics, as well as how recent epidemics have been dealt with and controlled. The authors make a case for a multi-faceted approach to building effective national health systems and combating epidemics, arguing that political, socio-economic and environmental factors are all at play. A good read given the challenge which Africa and the world now face in the form of COVID-19. Read the Library Highlight!

This volume, published by Brill in the African Dynamics series and edited by Klaas van Walraven, investigates the development of biographical study in African history and historiography. In addition to methodological insights, the book offers many case studies, e.g. of Abdullah Abdurahman (first South African politician of colour elected to public office), Cornelius Badu (born in 1847 in Elmina, Gold Coast, current Ghana), and politicians like Barthélémy Boganda (CAR) and Laurent Kabila (DRC).

ASCL researcher Rahmane Idrissa wrote a post for The New York Review of Books, Pandemic Journal. Dr Idrissa left the Netherlands at the end of February for Niger, to find himself stuck in the country ten days later. The capital city Niamey has now been “closed” and is subject to a night curfew. Read his post.

In these times of Corona, also universities in Ghana have activated virtual learning programmes to reach their students. Non-availability of internet services in parts of the country and the fact that some of the students do not have access to laptops, are just some of the problems, writes Samuel Aniegye Ntewusu, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, in a guest blog for the ASCL Africanist Blog.

The Africa Knows! conference, the final activity of the Africa 2020 year, kicked off during the opening days from 2-4 December, and will last until 28 February. Africa Knows! is about knowledge production in and about Africa. The knowledge landscape in African countries has changed radically in recent years. A growing demand for higher and scientific education has resulted in numerous (private) initiatives. Calls to decolonise knowledge and education are getting louder. At the same time, education has experienced a dramatic blow as schools have been forced to close their doors during the past year. The conference will take place fully online.

This book, edited by Duncan Money and Danelle van Zyl-Hermann, showcases new research on white workers and the white poor in Southern Africa. It demonstrates that social class remained a salient element throughout the twentieth century, how Southern Africa’s white societies were often divided and riven with tension and how the resulting social, political and economic complexities animated white minority regimes in the region.

The current corona crisis is revealing just how interconnected our world is. Perhaps more interesting, it also shows how continents, countries and localities are differently connected, and differently integrated in the global economy and in the global movement of people. Why does Africa seem so little affected in comparison to other regions of the globe? Mayke Kaag looks for answers in her latest blog post.