News & Events

The ASCL is saying farewell to its esteemed Head of the Library, Documentation, and Information Department (LDI) Jos Damen. After having dedicated his expertise and passion to the ASCL and particularly its library (now known as the African Library) since 2006, Damen is retiring.

On 21 March 1940, South African photographer Ernest Levi Tsoloane Cole was born. In the early 1960s, he started to freelance for clients such as Drum magazine, the Rand Daily Mail, and the Sunday Express. This made him South Africa's first black freelance photographer.

The abrupt freeze of US Foreign Aid has left many communities in Africa in limbo, undermining the hard-earned trust that took years to build. In a new blog, PhD candidate Tinashe Chimbidzikai, who has actively participated in implementing USAID-programmes in Zimbabwe, observes the fragility of trust in humanitarian efforts.

From 18 to 20 March 2025 Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will go on a three-day state visit to Kenya. The visit has evoked strong criticism in Kenya and the Netherlands. In this reading list, the African Library has assembled resources on the state visit, recent protests, and Kenyan politics and human rights.

Apply for the Master or Research Master in African Studies at Leiden University! The Research Master is unique in continental Europe for its interdisciplinary approach and the six-months fieldwork in Africa. The Master is an advanced area studies qualification that combines leading Africanist scholarship with practice-based learning.

Eric Cezne is a new postdoctoral researcher at the ASCL who works on the political geographies of energy transitions and decarbonisation in Africa. Cezne 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.

Former ASCL PhD candidate Tycho van der Hoog was recently interviewed by VPRO journalist Bram Vermeulen for the podcast Achter de Frontlinie.