News & Events

Thirteen students of the Master and the Research Master African Studies received their diplomas on 2 November during a festive ceremony in the Academy Building. They gave short presentations about their theses and their experiences during both lockdown and fieldwork. Congrats!

Are you looking for a master's programme offering you in-depth knowledge about different aspects of Africa? Find out all about the master's and the research master's programmes in African Studies during the Master's Online Open Day on Thursday 10 November! 

On 4 November 2007, Nigerian novelist, short-story writer and children’s author Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi died in Enugu at the age of 86. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dag Hammarskjöld International Prize in Literature in 1968 and the Nigeria Book Fair Trust's Life Achievement Award in 2004. 

Together with African and European partner universities the ASCL is developing a new Small Private Online Course (SPOC). The course will look at how to apply approaches and knowledge from multiple regions of the world to well-being.

The Africa Yearbook, published by Brill, covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa - all related to developments in one calendar year. Volume 18 of the Africa Yearbook covers developments in 2021. Jon Abbink wrote the chapters on Somalia and Ethiopia, while Klaas van Walraven authored the chapter on Niger.

The Ustadh Mau Digital Archive (UMADA) project kicked off with a digitisation workshop on Lamu Island, Kenya, from 3 to 5 October. Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulkadir, locally known as Ustadh Mau, is an eminent poet and imam. Digitising his library will enhance the accessibility to this cultural heritage.

On 25 October 2001, Cameroonian writer, journalist, poet, novelist, and playwright René Philombe, pen name of Philippe Louis Ombedé died in Yaoundé at the age of 70. He was one of the founders of the Association of Cameroonian Poets and Writers (APEC) of which he was the secretary for 20 years.

On the occasion of the upcoming edition of Bamako Encounters, which will take place in Bamako (Mali) in the coming months, the ASCL Library has created a web dossier on African Photography. The introduction is by visual artist Andrea Stultiens.

Mayke Kaag, named Professor by Special Appointment of the Anthropology of Islam in Africa and its Diaspora at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), gave her inaugural lecture during a festive ceremony in the university's Auditorium on 5 October. You can still watch the ceremony online.

According to colleague writers, Zimbabwean author Irene Ropa Rinopfuka Mahamba stands out as one of the local writers representing a true, Zimbabwean perspective on the liberation struggle in this country. Mahamba is the subject of the latest Library Highlight!