ASCL Newsletter February 2017

AEGIS Statement on the anti-immigration policies of the USA

The Board of AEGIS, the Africa Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies, of which the ASCL is a member, fully supports our ASA (African Studies Association) colleagues in the United States and share their great worries on the anti-immigration policies.

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ASCL worried about the arrest of Ethiopian political scientist Merera Gudina

The ASCL has noted with concern the arrest on 1 December 2016 of Dr Merera Gudina, political scientist and chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress in Ethiopia, a legal opposition party. Merera Gudina has been a visiting scholar to our centre twice. According to the Ethiopian Human Rights Project, the Court has adjourned the case of Merera Gudina to 23 February.

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News from the knowledge platform INCLUDE

The role of the private sector in development cooperation is acknowledged more and more. The OECD recently published a new report: Private Sector Engagement for Sustainable Development: Lessons from the DAC. However, the report has failed to include the voices of the private sector, particularly from the South, writes researcher Agnieszka Kazimierczuk in an opinion article. The issue makes for interesting debate on the latest Question Of The Week!

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Transmission of Kapsiki-Higi folktales over two generations: tales that come, tales that go

This study on Kapsiki-Higi tales compares two corpuses of stories collected over two generations. In this oral setting, folktales appear much more dynamic than usually assumed, depending on genre, performance and the memory characteristics of the tales themselves. Wouter van Beek collected these tales in Northeastern Nigeria twice, with a time gap of two generations, in order to assess the dynamics of this oral transmission. 

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The use of local raw materials in beer brewing: Heineken in Nigeria

This new article by Akinyinka Akinyoade, Chibuike Uche and guest researcher Ogbuagu Ekumankama investigates attempts by Nigerian Breweries (a subsidiary of Heineken) to increase its use of local raw materials for beer brewing. It argues that the greatest threat to this initiative has been inconsistent Nigerian Government policies, especially with respect to promoting the cultivation of local raw materials such as sorghum, replacing imported barley.

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New web dossier: African comic strips and cartoons

Comic strips and cartoons form a perhaps small, yet highly relevant part of the ASCL Library. Many African cartoons and comic strips act as a societal watchdog by holding their leaders responsible for their actions, writes Drs. Ogo Ubabukoh, publisher of Kata Kata African Cartoons, in his introduction to our new web dossier. 

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New Library Highlight: Nigerian civil servants’ personal memoirs

What is it like to be a civil servant in Nigeria? Among the books collected during the ASCL library’s acquisition trip of last year to Nigeria are some (auto)biographical documents about working in the Nigerian civil service. Memoirs of mixed blessings and Living the dream draw a picture not only of the civil service, but also of the political, economic and home circumstances of the times described. 

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Appointments and new publications

Community fellow Prof. Wale Adebanwi, former visiting fellow at the ASCL, has been appointed Rhodes Professor of Race Relations at the University of Oxford. Plus: more appointments, and new publications!

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Mirjam de Bruijn on Radio 1 about protests in Cameroon after Internet shutdown

Mirjam de Bruijn was interviewed on Radio 1 about the protests in Cameroon after the Internet was blocked in the Western regions. The country's Anglophone minority is revolting against the government's plans to impose French in schools and courts. Listen to the interview (in Dutch) and check out the literature list, offering background information on the crisis.

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Article Chibuike Uche on the prospects for Micro-Leasing in NABC Magazine

Chibuike Uche wrote an article in NABC Magazine on the prospects for Micro-Leasing in Africa.

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Klaas van Walraven interviewed on Radio 1 about the situation in the Gambia

Klaas van Walraven was interviewed on Radio 1 about the situation in the Gambia. President Yahya Jammeh refused to step down, while the newly elected president had already been installed in Senegal.

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Jan-Bart Gewald interviewed on Radio 1 about the state of affairs in Africa

Jan-Bart Gewald was interviewed in radio show 'Met Het Oog Op Morgen' about the state of affairs in Africa.

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23 March: Seminar with African Architecture Matters: The Beeker Method: Planning and Working on the Redevelopment of the African City

The work of Coen Beeker, a Dutch urban planner working in Africa, especially Ouagadougou, between 1978 and 2010, is about redevelopment carried out by residents themselves: through a dynamic process of palavers, long community consultations, and planning and site work with little interference from above. How can contemporary and future urban planners benefit from his work and ideas?

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Blog by Mirjam de Bruijn: 'Cattle feeding the armed groups in CAR'

Do the Fulani nomads have a reason to resist and rebel? Their cattle has served as a resource for armed groups for years, but young Fulani men have also joined the armed groups and formed their own armed groups. The number of displaced or refugee Fulani is not known. Mirjam de Bruijn meets them in Bangui, CAR.

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Rijksmuseum: 'Good Hope: South Africa and the Netherlands from 1600'

The Rijksmuseum will be presenting the first major exhibition about the relationship between South Africa and the Netherlands from 17 February - 21 May. Four hundred years of emotive history in 300 items, most of which come from South Africa. On Sundays, the exhibition’s guides are South Africans who will explain the exhibition from a personal perspective.

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28 February - 1 March: Aid & Development Africa Summit

The Aid & Development Africa Summit 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya, will look at how technological innovations and best practice can improve aid delivery and development strategy in East Africa.

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