News & Events

On 12 September 1977, South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died as a consequence of state violence following his arrest. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s.

In 2024 the Asante commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Sagrenti War, and the Silver Jubilee of king Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. During these events, Asante artefacts were returned from Western museums.  On this occasion the ASCL Library has updated its 2002 web dossier about the Asante Kingdom.

In the first week of September, at the start of the academic year, we welcomed our new (Res)MA students in African Studies and minor students in African Dynamics and Frugal Innovation. A total of 59 students enrolled in these four programmes. After introductions to the ASCL and their new study programme, the students are looking forward to starting their coursework. 

On 3 July the Leiden University Dialogue in Education Network (LUDIEN) was officially launched. The network welcomes all who are interested in dialogue as a tool for connection and improved student wellbeing in higher education. The dialogue method is moreover useful to talk about sensitive issues in class.

Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald receives an NWO Open Competition grant to conduct research on mining history in Southern Africa. The project will investigate the environmental history of three industrial mining centres in southern Africa. It will describe and analyse the long-term impact of mining in southern Africa on more than humans alone.

How to make light in dark times? The NVAS Africa Day, held on 15 March in Utrecht, will focus on humor, in theory and in practice. While the humorous and the playful may sometimes seem incongruous with crises, they both find their foundation in absurdity. Humor functions to address topics that are sensitive, ‘off-limits,’ and to subvert the status quo. Join us in Utrecht!