News & Events

For the Stephen Ellis Chair for the Governance of Finance and Integrity in Africa, Professor Chibuike Uche, the ASCL is looking for a student assistant (four hours a week, 9-10 months). The duties will include online research and data gathering, questionnaire distribution and collation, library search, data analysis, and taking minutes during meetings. The ideal candidate should be a second or third-year Honours student with excellent academic grades and a genuine interest in Africa. Application deadline: 26 July.

Do socio-economic cleavages shape electoral dynamics in African countries? Individual-level and party systems research since the 1990s has suggested that the answer is "no." Focusing on a number of countries in East and West Africa, this online seminar on 28 October by Prof. Catherine Boone (London School of Economics) will offer a spatial analysis of geographic patterns in constituency-level voting over three decades.

The basilicas in Ethiopia symbolize the history of Christianity in Ethiopia, the most famous being the Rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1978. This month’s Library Highlight, The basilicas of Ethiopia: an architectural history by architectural historian and architect Mario di Salvo, discusses the unique architectural features of these basilicas and explains how they developed over time. Read the Library Highlight!

Since the end of June, the hashtag #justicepourlouise has been circulating in Senegal. This is a large effort from the recently established Collectif des féministes du Sénégal to ensure that justice is done for Louise, the pseudonym given to a 15-year-old girl who accused a 19-year-old schoolmate of having raped her. Societal responses to pleas for justice in cases like these show how politicised gender and sexual rights are in Senegal, Loes Oudenhuijsen writes in the ASCL Africanist Blog.

Are you interested in Africa and is your master's thesis on a related subject? If so, the African Studies Centre Leiden is offering you the chance to win € 500,-. Moreover, your thesis will be published in the ASCL's African Studies Collection. Final-year students who have completed their master's thesis at a university in Africa or the Netherlands can apply. The thesis must be based on independent empirical research related to Africa. Deadline for submitting your thesis: 31 August 2021.

On the occasion of the Africa 2020 year, the ASCL created Infosheets about the countries that became independent in 1960. One year later, Sierra Leone was the next in line: on 27 April 1961 it gained political independence from the United Kingdom. Read about the country's recent history, its demographic, social-economic and agricultural developments and regional inequality.