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Posted on 9 November 2011, last modified on 9 October 2023
31 January 2020
On 30 January 2020, LeidenASA and the ASCL organised the conference 'Africa: 60 Years of Independence' in Leiden. It was the kick-off for 'Africa 2020', the year in which 17 countries on the African continent celebrate 60 years of independence. Keynotes were given by Lungisile Ntsebeza (University of Cape Town), Birgit Meyer (Utrecht University), Carolyn Hamilton (UCT) and Jan Abbink (ASCL/Leiden University), who gave their views on decolonising the academy, religion, the use of oral archives, and changes of leadership in Ethiopia and Sudan.
27 January 2020
The print culture of 1920s Lagos, Nigeria, was innovative and effervescent. Numerous new weekly and daily newspapers were started in this decade. Five of these papers were in Yoruba and sought to convene a wider audience than before. During the online ASCL Seminar on 7 October Karin Barber (University of Birmingham) will suggest that this resulted in the establishment of several new genres, the most influential of which was the famous confessions of a fictional Lagos 'harlot', Sẹgilọla.
23 January 2020
On the occasion of the special 'Africa 2020' year, the ASCL and its Library have made several knowledge products relating to 60 years of independence: a thematic map 'Africa at 60'; a web dossier on African Leaders of Independence; an overview of the 17 countries that gained independence in 1960, offering web resources and selected open access publications; and infosheets about the countries that became independent in 1960. The infosheets kick off with Cameroon.
21 January 2020
Klaas van Walraven learnt of the existence of a burial ground for Dutchmen in Brazzaville, dating from the late 1880s. Congo-Brazzaville was never a Dutch possession. So why does it boast a Dutch cemetery? And who are the young men lying there? Read his latest contribution to the ASCL Africanist Blog!
21 January 2020
The Africa Knows! conference will be the closing activity of the special 'Africa 2020' year. It wll take place from 2-4 December 2020 at the The Hague University of Applied Sciences/De Haagse Hogeschool. The main issues that will be addressed are: is Africa preparing itself for leapfrogging to innovations? What will the nascent multi-polar world of the 21st century mean for Africa’s role in knowledge and innovation? How do we finally decolonize the minds and change attitudes towards real co-creation? Deadline: 31 March.
20 January 2020
On the occasion of the 'Africa 2020' year, the African Studies Centre Leiden has compiled a thematic map showing a number of developments in African countries during the last sixty years, relating to: year of independence, population growth, social indicators e.g. literacy rates, agglomerations, agriculture, and state stability-fragility. See the map and read the full text.