News & Events

On 30 November 2015, Moroccan feminist writer and sociologist Fatema Mernissi died in Rabat at the age of 75. Her legacy can be greatly attributed to her scholarly and literary contributions to the early Islamic feminist movement. She tackled issues such as Eurocentrism, intersectionality, transnationalism and global feminism in her publications and public lectures. 

The ASCL is deeply saddened by the news that its former colleague Marieke van Winden passed away on 23 November. Marieke was the ASCL’s communications officer until she retired in June 2019, and still after that, she co-organised the Africa Knows conference. Marieke will be missed tremendously by her former colleagues.

On 23 November 1948, South African-Scottish author and academic  Zoë Wicomb was born near Vanrhynsdorp, Western Cape, in South Africa. In 2013, she was awarded the inaugural Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for her fiction.

On 15 November 1996, Ugandan climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate was born in Kampala. She became a celebrity in December 2018 after becoming concerned about the unusually high temperatures in her country.

The collection of the African Studies Centre Leiden Library currently holds nearly 60 cookbooks, half of which are produced in Africa. The cookbooks published in Africa are often oriented at one specific country; those from outside often present recipes from all over the continent. 

This book, co-edited by Rijk van Dijk, explores local cultural discourses and practices relating to experiences of the demonic, the spectral and the uncanny, probing into their effects on people’s domestic and intimate spheres of life. It contains case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Europe.

For the Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies (INCLUDE) the ASCL is looking for a Knowledge Valorisation Staff member. One of the key responsibilities is to facilitate knowledge exchange between researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders in the Netherlands and African countries.

The ASCL Library has created a list of online resources on Africa and the COP27 climate summit, taking place in Egypt from 6 to 18 November. It contains online articles, blogs, infographics, podcasts and videos, most of which are freely available.

On 11 November 1952, Congolese writer, poet, novelist, playwright, essayist and storyteller Kama Sywor Kamanda was born in in Luebo, Belgian Congo. He was the founding president of the African Association of Writers. As a writer he subsequently produced a considerable body of literary work, including a dozen anthologies of poetry, several hundred stories, as well as several novels. 

John Kegel has recently started at the ASCL as a postdoc researcher. For three years, he will be doing research into the colonial concessionary companies in sub-Saharan Africa from 1880-1960. 'One could state that most of the land in sub-Saharan Africa was owned by European companies.'