News & Events

Why did so many people emigrate from the Netherlands in the fifties? Why did hundreds of them choose to settle in what was then called Rhodesia, today’s Zimbabwe? And why did so many of them stay after 1965, when the country was led by a white-minority regime, faced an international boycott and was engulfed in a bloody guerrilla war? Journalist Marnix de Bruyne will address these questions in the seminar on 24 November, that is loosely connected to his book We moeten gaan. Nederlandse boeren in Zimbabwe.

ASCL senior researcher Marcel Rutten will deliver the keynote at the 7th Annual CELEP meeting to be held in London 5-7 October. Title: “The Land-Water Nexus in Semi-Arid Kenya – How Kenya’s pastoralists lose land and see their water resources depleted as a result of horticulture, biofuel and conservation initiatives". CELEP is the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism, of which the African Studies Centre Leiden is a member. 

On Thursday 29 September, Britta Frede from the Freie Universität Berlin, currently a visiting fellow at the ASCL, will shed light on the place of women within the realm of Islamic knowledge production in Nouakchott, Mauritania. She will trace Muslim women teachers’ writings and their teaching activities from a historical perspective. You are all very welcome!

As Ethiopia is experiencing a new round of turmoil, ASCL senior researcher Jan Abbink has been interviewed by several media and has written blogs and articles himself analysing the current situation and its historical background. Abbink emphasises two issues: inequities in the land system, and the fact that development consists not only of economic factors but of a social, cultural, and political context of inclusiveness, 'a point which remains poorly understood by donors to African countries'. We created an overview of Abbink's activity in the media.

The theme of this year’s Voice4Thought Festival is ‘People in motion’. On this occasion, the ASCL Library has compiled a selection of library items related to the theme. The selection highlights items on diverse art forms, such as film, music, and literature. It includes personal stories from ‘people on the move’ and offers background through various literary and social studies. Check out the ASCL Library selection!