News & Events

Why did so many people emigrate from the Netherlands in the fifties? Why did hundreds of them choose to settle in what was then called Rhodesia, today’s Zimbabwe? And why did so many of them stay after 1965, when the country was led by a white-minority regime, faced an international boycott and was engulfed in a bloody guerrilla war? Journalist Marnix de Bruyne will address these questions in the seminar on 24 November, that is loosely connected to his book We moeten gaan. Nederlandse boeren in Zimbabwe.

ASCL senior researcher Marcel Rutten will deliver the keynote at the 7th Annual CELEP meeting to be held in London 5-7 October. Title: “The Land-Water Nexus in Semi-Arid Kenya – How Kenya’s pastoralists lose land and see their water resources depleted as a result of horticulture, biofuel and conservation initiatives". CELEP is the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism, of which the African Studies Centre Leiden is a member. 

On Thursday 29 September, Britta Frede from the Freie Universität Berlin, currently a visiting fellow at the ASCL, will shed light on the place of women within the realm of Islamic knowledge production in Nouakchott, Mauritania. She will trace Muslim women teachers’ writings and their teaching activities from a historical perspective. You are all very welcome!

On 12 September Muslims all over the world celebrated the Sacrificial Feast (Eid al-Adha). Every year the uncertainty of the lunar date to which this feast is linked, instigates religious disputes about the correct determination. The Nigerian book Moonsighting, by Abu ‘Aaishah Murtadha Salahuddeen al-Iwoowee, a reformist preacher hailing from Iwo, offers insight into these debates and sheds light on shifting perceptions on Muslim authority, the nation-state, and Christian-Muslim relations in Africa. It is the subject of our latest Library Highlight!

As Ethiopia is experiencing a new round of turmoil, ASCL senior researcher Jan Abbink has been interviewed by several media and has written blogs and articles himself analysing the current situation and its historical background. Abbink emphasises two issues: inequities in the land system, and the fact that development consists not only of economic factors but of a social, cultural, and political context of inclusiveness, 'a point which remains poorly understood by donors to African countries'. We created an overview of Abbink's activity in the media.

The theme of this year’s Voice4Thought Festival is ‘People in motion’. On this occasion, the ASCL Library has compiled a selection of library items related to the theme. The selection highlights items on diverse art forms, such as film, music, and literature. It includes personal stories from ‘people on the move’ and offers background through various literary and social studies. Check out the ASCL Library selection!

The ASCL and the ASCL Community mourn the loss of Kees Burger, fellow of the ASCL Community. Kees was an economist who did research in East Africa, while working first at the VU Amsterdam and later at Wageningen University. One of his projects was a restudy of the famous study by Mary Tiffen and colleagues in Kenya, More People, Less Erosion. With Fred Zaal, he edited the book Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics: Explaining the Miracle.

This is a Cocoon Initiative Kenya Working Paper. In it, Marcel Rutten en Moses Mwangi provide a short historical overview of land policy and land law development in Kenya and the way these have affected and still impact the position of women in Kenyan society. In particular, they present detailed cases of the use of fake wives by cheating husbands, in an attempt to convince the local Land Control Board that the intended sale of part of the family land is conducted with the full approval of the other household members.

ASCL senior researcher Benjamin Soares has been appointed as an honorary co-editor of Africa. Founded in 1928, Africa is the journal of the International African Institute in London. It is the premier journal devoted to the study of African societies and culture, and it encourages an interdisciplinary approach. The journal appears quarterly and is published by Cambridge University Press.

On Wednesday 5 October, the new exhibition 'Afrikanerland' will open at the ASCL. Photographer-researcher Leonor Faber-Jonker will give a short introduction on her photo series that reflects on her sense of alienation during a study trip to Namibia and South Africa in 2014. The opening on 5 October starts at 5 pm in the Bamboo lounge, third floor of the Pieter de la Court building. All welcome!