News & Events

ASC researcher Akinyinka Akinyoade and Bisola Adebayo from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, currently drafted to the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EEOC) in Lagos, have written an ASC web article about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and elsewhere. The article goes beyond giving statistical updates of the spread of the Ebola virus; it highlights medical as well as socio-cultural issues, like the strong advise not to shake hands anymore - 'The social soul is now seen as a possible route of transmission of the dreadful disease' -, patients suffering from other diseases getting rejected at medical facilities, and rising foodstuff prices.

The ASC has produced three brand new thematic maps. One in cooperation with Nuffic: 'Dutch cooperation programmes to strengthen post-secondary education and training in Africa (1996-2013)', one in cooperation with the Rotterdam School of Management: 'The challenge of Dutch sustainable diplomacy', and one in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 'Composition of financial flows to Sub-Saharan African countries: ten years into the Monterrey Consensus on the Millennium Development Goals'. The maps can be ordered at the ASC, free of charge.

'BerichtenBuitenland', monthly magazine for the Dutch agrarian business sector and issued by the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs, gives extensive attention to the Africa Works! conference in its September issue ('Africa special'). Ton Dietz, director of the African Studies Centre, is quoted as saying that during the first edition of Africa Works! in 2012, mutual trust was built between scholars, entrepreneurs and policy makers, and that during this year's edition, the time is ripe to move ahead and create real partnerships. Africa Works! will be held on 16 and 17 October in Leiden.

The Africa Yearbook 2013 covers major domestic political developments, foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Saharan Africa – all related to developments in the calendar year 2013. The Yearbook contains articles on all sub-Saharan states, each of the four sub-regions (West, Central, Eastern, Southern Africa), an article on continental developments and one on African-European relations. Editors are Andreas Mehler (Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg), Henning Melber (Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala) and Klaas van Walraven (African Studies Centre, Leiden).

The ASC has launched an information portal on the 2014 outbreak of Ebola (EVD, Ebola Virus Disease) in Africa. On the portal, you will find information from international health organizations like the World Health Organization and Doctors without Borders, government institutions of several (African) countries, news feeds and maps of the outbreak. The information portal will be updated regularly. Also have a look at the list of Frequently Asked Questions.

ASC researcher Klaas van Walraven just published an article in Politique Africaine about the putsch by Seyni Kountché in Niger in 1974, which led to the fall of President Hamani Diori. The French were accused of involvement because Diori had had disagreements with them. During his research in the Paris archives, Van Walraven made a fascinating discovery: not only were the French not involved in the putsch, they actually started up measures for an airborne operation to save President Diori, code-named “Plan Somme”. Read the interview with Van Walraven about his discovery.

The Week of the Afrikaans novel will take place from 19 – 26 September in The Netherlands and Vlaanderen (Belgium). Five South African writers that publish in Afrikaans will make a tour of the Low Lands. The authors are Etienne van Heerden, Irma Joubert, Sonja Loots, Kirby van der Merwe and Marita van der Vyver. The ASC Library has numerous books by these authors in its collection. On Friday 26 September a symposium will be organized at the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University.

Three years ago a thirteen-month period of protest and civic action started in Senegal. For some time, there had already been widespread dissatisfaction with the way the country was being governed. Chronique d'une révolte; photographies d'une saison de protestation is a catalogue that accompanies an exhibition of the work of twenty mostly Senegalese photographers that recorded this historic moment. The photos are accompanied by bilingual (French and English) essays. Chronique d'une révolte is the subject of our latest Acquisition Highlight.

On the occasion of the retirement of Robert Ross, Professor in African History at Leiden University, his successor and former student Jan-Bart Gewald wrote a valedictory note. Robert has been in Leiden since 1976, first as coordinator and (later) professor in African History. He has taught in the BA degree course Languages and Cultures of Africa, and the MAs (including the Research MA) on African Studies. Most of all, Robert has been a long-standing friend of the ASC!

Unions have played multiple roles throughout Africa’s history. In order to shed light on the diverse and complex nature of organised labour in Africa, the ASC's research group ‘Trade Unions and Labour Issues in Africa’ and the International Institute of Social History (IISH) are organising a Round Table on 10 September about the multiple roles of trade unions in Africa today. The Round Table will bring together academics, practitioners and policy-makers.