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Posted on 9 November 2011, last modified on 9 October 2023
10 June 2020
On 30 June 1960, Patrice Lumumba gave his legendary speech at the Ceremony of the Proclamation of Congo's Independence. From that moment, and even more so after Lumumba’s controversial assassination in 1961, Lumumba has become one of the most iconic leaders of the African independence struggle. This month’s Library Highlight features Lumumba in the arts, edited by Matthias de Groof, a richly illustrated volume about the representation of Patrice Lumumba in various art forms. Read the Library Highlight!
05 June 2020
In 1960, seventeen countries in Africa declared independence. Hence, the year became known as the 'Year of Africa'. Sixty years later, the New York Times has made a special online production in which images tell the story of independence: 'Reflections on 1960, the Year of Africa'. Each of the seventeen countries that gained independence in 1960 is represented in photographs. In addition, there are images from other countries that became independent just after or before 1960.
03 June 2020
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently asked the Board of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to revisit its decision that cleared the Bank’s president, Akinwumi Adesina, of allegations of nepotism and corruption. The US is the largest non-African shareholder of the Bank. ASCL researchers Chibuike Uche and André Leliveld ask themselves: what is the utility value of the widespread influence of non-African countries in the AfDB for Africa’s development? Read their post in the ASCL Africanist Blog!
02 June 2020
Prof. Hendrik Ulbo Eric ('Bonno') Thoden van Velzen became a researcher at the African Studies Centre in 1966, the year in which he completed his PhD in Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University. His PhD research – carried out together with his wife and anthropologist Ineke van Wetering – was on Maroons who escaped slavery in Suriname, while his work at the ASC focused on Tanzania. Together with his wife and children, Thoden van Velzen spent three years doing fieldwork in Tanzania, where he took part in an interdisciplinary research group.
29 May 2020
The legacy of the independence wave in 1960 has had an impact on Africa for a long time, but the current political instability and mismanagement are no longer due to the break with the colonial past. In his contribution for the Clingendael Spectator series 'Afrika: 60 jaar onafhankelijkheid' ('Africa: 60 years of independence'), Jon Abbink distinguishes seven factors that determine the political prospects in Africa and the opportunities for good governance.
25 May 2020
Fiction never foretells the future. But sometimes it comes quite close. In 2016, South African writer Deon Meyer published his novel Koors (Fever), a story about a pandemic fever raging over the world, and wiping away 95% of the population, leaving only a few people left, including father and son Willem and Nico in South Africa. Elements of the COVID-19 pandemic seem present in the book. Two staff members of the ASCL Library, ardent fans of Deon Meyer’s novels, interviewed Meyer by email.