News & Events

Visiting fellow Christopher J. Lee (University of the Witwatersrand) will talk about his new book Unreasonable Histories during the ASC seminar on Thursday 26 March. At the book's core are the experiences of multiracial Africans in British Central Africa - contemporary Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia - from the 1910s to the 1960s. Drawing on a spectrum of evidence, Lee traces the emergence of Anglo-African, Euro-African, and Eurafrican subjectivities which constituted a grassroots Afro-Britishness that defied colonial categories of native and non-native.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Namibia's independence, the ASC organized a Country Meeting on 6 March 2015. Among the speakers were Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald, Leonor Jonker and Dr Stasja Koot. Prof. Gewald spoke about Namibia's achievement of having peace for 25 years now. Leonor Jonker (Utrecht University) talked about the continuing controversy surrounding the return and retention of Namibian skulls from Germany, while Dr Koot dwelled on tourism and the position of Bushmen in contemporary Namibia.

Diaspora communities and organisations are becoming increasingly influential actors on the international humanitarian stage, often providing assistance in ways that differ from those of the traditional international humanitarian donor community. Diaspora communities provide direct cash transfers, send skilled volunteers that have local knowledge, and compile first-hand crisis information from affected populations. Mobile telephony, e-banking and social media networks have facilitated the establishment of virtual connections between the Diaspora and the populations affected by disasters in their home countries. On 30 March, an expert meeting about the role of these Diaspora actors will take place at the ASC.