News & Events

The Call for Papers for the 7th European Conference on African Studies (Basel, 29 June-1 July 2017) is open! Scholars in African Studies are invited to propose papers to the panel(s) of their choice. This year's theme: 'Urban Africa - Urban Africans: New encounters of the rural and the urban'. Deadline for submitting abstracts: 19 January 2017. We made an overview of the Leiden related panels.

Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald and Leonor Faber-Jonker have contributed to the exhibition 'Le premier génocide du XXe siècle: Herero et Nama dans le Sud-Ouest africain allemand, 1904-1908' in Paris. The exhibition deals with the genocide on Herero and Nama in German South West Africa (current Namibia) at the start of the 20th century. Leonor Faber-Jonker is scientific curator of the exhibition, Prof. Gewald has made his archive available and gave a lecture at the opening of the exhibition on 24 November 2016. 

The links between conservation and livelihood concerns remain much debated, and there is no agreement about the degree to which these concerns are linked, and how they should be tackled together. The main objectives of the PhD dissertation by Michiel van den Bergh are to uncover the local values of birds, the environment and conservation for rural people in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region, and to increase insights into interventions that aim to achieve integrated (migrant bird) conservation and sustainable development objectives in this area.

ASCL director Ton Dietz gave a Cleveringa lecture in Rabat on Tuesday 29 November. Title of his lecture: 'Africa 2016-2100: Demographic Trends and Consequences for the Continent and for the World'. Professor Dietz considered the consequences of the rapid population growth, urbanization, migration, resource competition and their impact on the population. He also investigated what the current global situation, with economic growth slowing down and the start of the Brexit-Trump era, mean for Africa. Take a look at his (French) presentation.

The 7th European Conference on African Studies ECAS 2017 will take place 28 June - 1 July 2017 in Basel. This year's theme: Urban Africa - Urban Africans: New Encounters of the Rural and the Urban. Many ASCL researchers and other Leiden University Africanists will organize a panel or present a paper. ASCL senior researcher Prof. Mirjam de Bruijn will give the Carl Schlettwein Lecture Digitalisation and the Field of African Studies on 28 June.

Prof. Muna Ndulo from Cornell University gave an inspiring Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture on 17 November on the topic of Ethnicity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Constitution Making in Africa. If you missed the lecture, you can now read the full text and check out the pictures! A video registration of the evening will be added soon. 

ASCL director Ton Dietz gave a closing speech at the end of the two-day international conference AfricaWorks! 2016 in Amsterdam, which was a big success. The theme of this year's conference was Innovation in Finance. In his speech, Dietz highlighted the fact that we need to look not only at matters like access to finance, finance for SMEs and finance for development, but also at finance and integrity.

On the occasion of the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture by Prof. Muna Ndulo on Ethnicity, diversity, inclusivity and constitution making in Africa (17 November) the library has compiled a web dossier on African constitutions. It contains titles available in the library and published in the past six years. The dossier opens with a thematic introduction by Professor Nick Huls, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Law, Leiden University, followed by an overview of constitutional texts. It concludes with links to relevant websites. Visit the web dossier!

Still a Pygmy, by Isaac Bacirongo & Michael Nest, is the memoir of Isaac Bacirongo, an ethnic BaTembo Mbuti (Pygmy) from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This recent library acquisition is thought to be the first memoir by a Pygmy author ever to be published. Bacirongo has become an advocate for fair treatment of his people and has helped establish the first indigenous rights organization for pygmies in Congo. Still a Pygmy is the subject of our latest Library Highlight!

On behalf of the jury, the ASCL is pleased to announce that the winner of the Africa Thesis Award 2016 is Tanja Hendriks for her thesis ‘Home is always home’. (Former) Street Youth in Blantyre Malawi and the Fluidity of Constructing Home. Tanja completed the Research Master in African Studies at Leiden University and graduated cum laude. The prize will be presented to Tanja at the LeidenASA Annual Meeting on 8 December.