News & Events

Studies on the religiosity of Sub-Sahara African Muslim migrants in Europe tend to give prominence to certain aspects of spirituality, like Sufism, but virtually not the wider question of belief and religiosity within the context of integration in a predominantly secular society. Taking belief as a multi-dimensional phenomenon with specific contexts, this study, therefore, seeks to enhance our nuanced understanding of Muslim religiosity among apolitical migrants who actively incorporate faith in their lives in secular societies accustomed to low-key approach to religiosity yet absorbed in the ‘war on terror’.

This international conference, organised by Prof. Chibuike Uche, wants to explore the diverse dynamics that impact on capital flows in Africa. Multinational companies are by far the largest source of both legal capital export and illegal capital leakage from the African continent. What about local companies?

The ASCL is delighted that Emmanuel Akyeampong, Director of the Center for African Studies at Harvard University, will give the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture 2019. Prof. Akyeampong will explore the nexus of spirituality, culture and political power in the connected lives of three first-generation African nationalist leaders: Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sekou Touré of Guinea, and Leopold Senghor of Senegal. All welcome, please register!

Disappointed that there was no children's book on African history from an African perspective, South African historian Nomalanga Mkhize decided to write it herself. In Africa with Avi and Kumbi is a fully illustrated adventure book that covers the history of Africa from the first humans, who left their marks in rock art, to important figures during the period of independence. And it is the subject of our latest Library Highlight!

Namibian beer is celebrated as an inextricable part of Namibian nationalism, both within its domestic borders and across global markets. But for decades on end, the same brew was not available to the black population as a consequence of colonial politics. This book by Tycho van der Hoog aims to explain how a European style beer has been transformed from an icon of white settlers into a symbol of the independent Namibian nation. It is based on Van der Hoog's thesis for the Research Master in African Studies at Leiden University. 

'Decolonising African Studies: questions and dilemmas for libraries, archives and collections' was the theme of this year’s conference of the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa (SCOLMA). Most talks concentrated on issues of decolonising archives in African and in western countries. Archives’ historical trajectories were sketched, possibilities and problems of repatriation of (parts of) archives were discussed, and alternative ways of dealing with archival material were presented.

Strident Africa is the overarching research programme of the African Studies Centre Leiden for the years 2019-2024. The research programme examines the dramatic changes taking place on the continent in terms of population growth, urbanization, the role of external actors and the impact on the environment, taking into account the historical context. In it, the ASCL draws on the rich heritage of its past research.