News & Events

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!

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!

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!

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.

The journal African Affairs has awarded the inaugural Stephen Ellis prize to Justin Hastings & Sarah Phillips from the University of Sydney for their article 'Maritime piracy business networks and institutions in Africa'. The prize was awarded during the ASAUK conference in Cambridge on 8 September. Stephen Ellis (1953-2015) was a greatly respected editor of African Affairs and one of the ASCL's most prominent researchers.

The African Studies Centre Leiden has developed an app for the AfricaBib database. AfricaBib gives bibliographical information on more than 220,000 African studies publications. It is the culmination of over forty years of Africana research.

Lesage Munyemana fled the war in DR Congo. He is now a biology student at Leiden University and gave one of the speeches during the offical opening of the Academic Year on 5 September. He is also the founder of the new university Meeting Point. This will be a friendly and informal place located in the Plexus student centre, where refugee students can go for help and advice. 

We are delighted that this year’s Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture will be given by Muna Ndulo, Professor of Law at Cornell University, USA. In his lecture Prof. Ndulo will contend that a poorly designed constitution can hinder inclusiveness and promote ethnic grievances and conflicts. He will identify key issues that must be addressed in the constitution making process to promote inclusiveness and a sense of citizenship and ownership of the political process in a diverse nation state. The lecture takes place on 17 November at 18.30.