News & Events

On 20 February 1952, Muslim scholar, poet and imam Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulkadir, commonly known as Ustadh Mau, was born on Lamu island. Since the 1970s, audio recordings and, to a lesser extent, printed versions of his poems have been circulating on the Kenyan coast and beyond. His poetry covers overarching sociopolitical issues and (often practical) matters of concern to the community. 

On 16 February 2019, Zimbabwean writer, translator, and editor Charles Lovemore Mungoshi died in Harare at the age of 71. Mungoshi is one of the most prolific and versatile Zimbabwean writers.  In 1977, his novel 'Waiting for the Rain' won a PEN award. 

Legitimacy has long been perceived through a Westernised lens as a fixed, binary state. In this seminar on 25 May, Kathy Dodworth (University of Edinburgh) will offer an exploration of everyday legitimation practices in coastal Tanzania, which challenges this understanding within postcolonial contexts.

The closure of borders is one of the most disputed political issues of our time. In this seminar, Hugh Lamarque (University of Edinburgh) will use examples from East Africa and the Great Lakes Region to present the political pressures around closing borders, the practical challenges, and the concept of 'cross-border asymmetry'.

Every year on February 10th, World Pulses Day celebrates the dry edible seeds of plants called pulses (chickpeas, dry beans, lentils, dry peas and lupins among others). It is a global event designated by the United Nations in 2018 to recognise the significance of pulses as a global food.

Rachel Dubale, research master student African Studies, is doing research about the effects of large-scale urban development plans in Ethiopia. What has relocation from the slums of Addis Ababa to condominium complexes in the outskirts of the city done to the community's social fabric?

This book honours Bob Wishitemi, Professor of Tourism and Wildlife Management at Moi University. Commemorating his death in 2021, it presents a variety of approaches to the major challenges facing sustainable tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa: climate change and biodiversity loss. Open access!

On the occasion of the upcoming general and presidential elections in Nigeria (scheduled for 25 February), the ASCL, in collaboration with the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs and the ASCL Community, will organise a panel discussion on Tuesday 14 February.

(Book in Dutch). Roel Coutinho publishes his diary and photos of his time as a young doctor in Guinea-Bissau in the 1970s. Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal in 1974. During his time there and in Senegal Coutinho took hundreds of photos, which have been made available on Wikimedia Commons by the ASCL Library. The ASCL now publishes his book.

This book, edited by Annachiara Raia and Clarissa Vierke, is a pioneering collection of poetry by the outstanding Kenyan poet and imam Ustadh Mahmmoud Mau from Lamu island, once an Indian Ocean hub, now on the edge of the nation state. By means of poetry in Arabic script, he raises his voice against social ills and injustices troubling his community on Lamu.