News & Events

Peter Knoope (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, ICCT) headed a team that conducted field research in Ghana and Benin, exploring the potential for religious radicalization in stable countries in West Africa. New religious “ideologies” mixed with economic frustrations have deeply impacted the traditional balance. During the seminar on 28 April, Knoope will highlight border porosity, absence of a strategic approach to counter-terrorism, youth frustration, rural and urban disparities and rampant illiteracy. His conclusion: action is needed urgently.

Each year on 8 March special attention is paid to the position of women worldwide. This year’s UN theme for International Women's Day is directly related to the Sustainable Development Goals. Gender equality is an important factor in all of these targets. It is also an important issue for the African Union, that recently declared 2016 the ‘African Year of Human Rights, with a particular focus on the Rights of Women’. In this context, the ASCL Library has compiled a web dossier containing titles from the catalogue published after 2011, and paying attention to all the themes represented in the Sustainable Development Goals. Read the new web dossier.

Mirjam de Bruijn and Han van Dijk have been awarded subsidy by NWO-WOTRO for their new research project 'The Fulani in the Sahel: Caught between the Hammer of Muslim Extremism and the Anvil of the State (Mali, Nigeria)'. The project will focus on the political dynamics in the Sahel and the appearance of nomadic pastoralist movements in the context of increasing political instability in the Sahara-Sahel zone: West Africa. More in particular: the increasing participation of the Fulani in political movements and agitation. Find out more about the project.

Female Genital Mutilation is considered a form of Violence Against Women and a human rights violation. A growing number of states where FGM is prevalent have signed and ratified the relevant human rights treaties. Yet the prevalence rates remain high in many of the countries where FGM occurs. During the seminar on 24 March, Annemarie Middelburg will raise the question to what extent and why states comply or not with the human rights framework. She takes Senegal as a case study.

In February, Mohamed Saadouni ( Leiden University Libraries), Elvire Eijkman and Heleen Smits (both ASCL Library) went on an acquistion trip to Morocco. They visited the 22nd Salon International de l’Edition et du Livre in Casablanca. It was a joint mission with the support of the Netherlands Institute in Morocco (NIMAR) in Rabat. Mohamed concentrated on publications in Arabic, Elvire and Heleen focused on French and English. Over 400 books were bought. Heleen Smits reports.

CNV Internationaal, the international department of the Dutch trade union CNV, has commissioned the ASCL to conduct explorative studies in five countries: Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Mali. The major aim of these studies is to make an inventory and assessment of the roles, strengths and weaknesses of civil society actors, including trade unions, when it comes to labour issues such as youth employability, decent work, gender and social dialogue. The collaborative research group ‘Trade Unions and Labour Issues in Africa’ will conduct the study.

In the autumn of 1912 21-year-old Henrik Stiernspetz embarks on a journey to Africa to seek his fortune. He does not fit in Stockholm’s bourgeois society and dreams of adventure. After the outbreak of the First World War and a failed business in Cape Town, Henrik travels to Kasempa in Northern Rhodesia where he opens a trading post. Around Christmas 1927, all correspondence to his family ceases. In February 1929, his mother is informed that her son has died. Henrik's family never discovered what happened to him. A century later, Elise Killander, journalist, cultural scientist and a distant relative, decides to find out why her great-grand uncle never came back. 'The last letter from Kasempa' is the subject of our latest Library Highlight.

The ASCL congratulates the Leiden African Studies Research Master’s graduates Iorver Ekeseh (Nigeria), Tanja Hendriks (the Netherlands), Michele Portatadino (Italy), Affoh Guenneguez (Côte d’Ivoire), David Drengk (Germany) and Rafael Verbuyst (Belgium), who received their diplomas at Leiden University on 25 February. Two of them have graduated cum laude. Take a look at the pictures!

On 16 February, associated senior researcher Prof. Wim van Binsbergen completed his last PhD supervision as promotor of Pius Mosima. Wim van Binsbergen is an Honorary Fellow of the African Studies Centre Leiden Community. Although retired in 2012, he is still doing research. On the photo: Wim van Binsbergen and Pius Mosima during their first meeting in Cameroon 2005.

ASCL senior researcher Marcel Rutten will give a key note lecture on 19 February for the National Land Commission of Kenya, Directorate of Research, in the 2016 Speakers Series on land Tenure Rights. The title of his lecture is 'Individualization of group ranch land: A 30 years longitudinal overview of effected changes in Kajiado County'. Rutten conducts research notably among Turkana, Orma and Maasai pastoralists. Ongoing projects address the effects of land tenure changes; water innovations and drought coping strategies; and conflicts and co-operation over natural resources (Cocoon Initiative Kenya) together with SEKU-Kitui.