News & Events

Dieudo Hamadi belongs to a new generation of contemporary African filmmakers. Born in 1984 in Kisangani, the Democratic Republic of Congo is still his home. Initially studying medicine, he later learned filmmaking through various documentary and editing workshops in Brussels and Paris. Hamadi now has his own production company, Kiripifilms. The ASCL Library recently acquired his two most recent documentary films. They are the subject of our latest Library Highlight!

For his research project focusing on the governance of security in informal urban settlements in Luanda, Angola, PhD candidate Antonio Frank travelled to Luanda in 2017 to make a documentary. In the slums he met young artists who make a living from selling their art and in other innovative ways, thereby influencing the neighbourhoods in a positive way. These young artists set a good example for other young people, showing them an alternative to a violent or criminal way of life.

The ASCL Library recently acquired three books that constitute interesting sources for the colonial history of the Equatorial region. All three involve writings by Alfons Vermeulen, an employee of the ‘Nieuwe Afrikaansche Handels-Vennootschap’ (NAHV), the Dutch trading house active in the wider Congo region in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Vermeulen's memoirs have now been published, edited and annotated by a member of his family, Fred van den Hoek. ASCL researcher Klaas van Walraven wrote a paper about these acquisitions.