News & Events

On 5 April 1968, Togolese writer and educator Félix Couchoro died in Lomé at the age of 68. He was one of the first African novelists, the inventor of chapbooks in Francophone Africa, a master of serial writing and the author of more than twenty novels.

The ASCL Library has complemented its catalogue with scholarly work on security and crime in Lusophone Africa in order to address an academic gap in research on this subject in the Netherlands. Gabriel Pinto Stiebler worked on this project during his three month internship at the library. A small exhibition of books and other materials can be seen in the library.

The African Studies Centre Leiden is very sad to report that in the morning of 28 March Dr Harrie Leyten passed away, 87 years of age. With his demise we lose a dear friend and an Africanist who has inspired countless people about Africa, its peoples and its art. Harrie defended his PhD in 2015. Read the 'In Memoriam' written by his friend and former promotor Wouter van Beek.

On 31 March 2021, Angolan poet and scholar Arlindo Barbeitos, in full Arlindo do Carmo Pires Barbeitos, died in Luanda at the age of 80. 

Indy Koster, student of the Research Master African Studies, collaborates with REEFolution for her thesis research. This NGO in Shimoni, a coastal village in south eastern Kenya, aims to restore the degraded coral reefs. Indy collects data both under water, to analyse the condition of the reef, and on land, interviewing female stakeholders.

The African Studies Centre Leiden is deeply saddened by the news that its former colleague and board member of the Netherlands Association of African Studies (NVAS) Karin Willemse passed away in Leiden on 18 March 2023. Karin was a driving force in propagating African Studies in the Netherlands.