New publications

The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa – all related to 2012. Several researchers of the African Studies Centre in Leiden have contributed to the Yearbook, while the editors are from different African Studies centres in Europe: Klaas van Walraven (Leiden), Andreas Mehler (Hamburg) and Henning Melber (Uppsala). The book aims at students, politicians, diplomats, journalists, teachers, development aid workers as well as business people.

This book is about the history of consumption and social change from 1840 until 1980 in Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola. Topics range from the social history of firearms to the perception of the railway and include contributions on sewing machines, traders and advertising. By looking at the socio-economic, political and cultural meaning and impact of goods, the history of Central Africa is reassessed.

On 1 July 1863, slavery was abolished in the former Dutch colonies of Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. This ended a period of around 200 years of slavery in these colonies. To mark the 150th anniversary of Dutch abolition in 2013, various activities have been organized, including exhibitions in the National Library of the Netherlands and the History Museum of The Hague.