The ASCL is very sad to report that Sabine Luning, assistant professor at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, passed away on 6 March 2025. Sabine was a close colleague and friend to many staff members at the ASCL. Jan-Bart Gewald wrote a personal reflection on her.

How to make light in dark times? The NVAS Africa Day, held on 15 March in Utrecht, will focus on humor, in theory and in practice. While the humorous and the playful may sometimes seem incongruous with crises, they both find their foundation in absurdity. Humor functions to address topics that are sensitive, ‘off-limits,’ and to subvert the status quo. Join us in Utrecht!

The ASCL will be hosting a two-day workshop on 19-20 March on the lasting legacy of mineral resource extraction in Africa. The workshop is held within the context of the Boom to Dust project, and is organised by students in the ResMa African Studies. Highlight will be a presentation of Prof. Rita Kesselring's (St. Gallen) latest book on Zambia.

The journey of fieldwork research and thesis writing is a defining experience for master’s students. To enhance this process, the LDE Thesis Lab Seminar Week, held in Nairobi last January, provided an immersive and enriching environment for Kenyan and Dutch students embarking on their research journeys.

Eric Cezne is a new postdoctoral researcher at the ASCL who works on the political geographies of energy transitions and decarbonisation in Africa. Eric organised a two-day workshop at the ASCL and the port of Rotterdam, bringing together social science scholars working on hydrogen energy in the Global South.

The ASCL is proud to have acquired the photo exhibition 'Traces'. The photos will be on permanent display in the ASCL hallways. TRACES is a photo-ethnographic project by researcher Lidewyde Berckmoes and photographer Marieke Maagdenberg that investigates how violent conflict reverberates across borders and generations.