News & Events

The conference ‘Destination Africa’, organised on 22-23 March in Leiden, will explore the idea of contemporary Africa as a global meeting point. Important questions include the ways in which people in Africa perceive the new influx and how they navigate, negotiate and possibly struggle to strike a balance between their own interests and those of the ‘newcomers’, including questions concerning integration, and the distribution of profits and resources. Check out the programme!

This year’s Annual Meeting of the Leiden African Studies Assembly (LeidenASA) will take place on 7 December. The Meeting is open to all members of LeidenASA, staff and students of Leiden University. Also Africanists and students of Delft University and Erasmus University are welcome as they are part of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus strategic alliance. Prof. Elísio Macamo (Centre for African Studies, University of Basel) will give a keynote speech: 'If Africans could Speak: Knowledge and Authority in African Studies', and the Africa Thesis Award will be presented to its winner, Adriaan Steyn, alumnus of Stellenbosch University (South Africa).

The Kenya Coast Bibliography now contains more than 2,200 records. The Bibliography has references to 1050 journal articles, 300 book titles and other publications such as book sections etc. More than 160 titles have been added since the previous update of February 2016. The Bibliography is part of the Kenya Coast Portal, a service provided by the African Studies Centre Leiden for students, researchers, development workers, government officials and others with an interest in the Kenya Coast.

Monday 9 October was a festive day for the ASCL: the newly appointed ASCL professors gave short lectures about their Chairs and research intentions, and Marleen Dekker gave her inaugural lecture as Professor of Inclusive Development in Africa (watch the video!). Prof. Rijk van Dijk announced the establishment of a Graduate School at the ASCL, which means all ASCL professors will be able to mentor PhD students at the ASCL. Rijk van Dijk is the intended coordinator of the Graduate School, that is anticipated to start in 2018.