News & Events

'A few years ago, we could not have imagined writing this blog'. ASCL researchers Mirjam de Bruijn and Han van Dijk have done research in the Sahel for decades. 'We do not hesitate to use the word Talibanization to describe the process underway.' De Bruijn and Van Dijk observe that the internationalization of the conflict might ultimately lead to (...)  the birth of a new Islamic Caliphate in the Sahel. Read their blog.

In their influential contribution to theorising the urban from Johannesburg, Mbembe & Nuttall (2004: 348) observe the continued tendency to “describe Africa as an object apart from the world”, and decry the systematic inattention to its “embeddedness in multiple elsewheres”. This is a stark contrast to the literature on the East African littoral, where city life is typically explained in terms of its entrenched connectivity to the Indian Ocean realm (Kresse 2012, Loimeier & Seesemann 2006). Rather than assuming African urban space as inherently connected or disconnected to the world beyond, this paper argues that conceptualisations of conjunction in and from the continent must be grounded in the imaginaries of city residents themselves. Drawing on examples of everyday eating practices in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, Zoë Goodman will outline the problematic notions of origin and spread that underpin much of the literature on Indian Ocean Africa, and assert the political imperative to view edible instantiations of littoral urbanism as ‘already local’ (Pennycook 2010).

Namibian beer is immensely popular in Namibia and beyond. The beer that is brewed by Namibia Breweries has grown into the national beverage of the country and is thus deeply ingrained into the idea of an autonomous and inclusive Namibia. But for decades, the same brew from the same company was not available to the black population as a consequence of colonial politics. The book 'Breweries, Politics and Identity: the History Behind Namibian Beer' by Tycho van der Hoog aims to explain this transformation. This book launch will be held in Dutch. 

Prof. Jan Abbink was interviewed by the NOS about the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed Ali. According to Prof. Abbink, the award is an incentive to continue working towards democracy and synergy between the different population groups in Ethiopia - groups that were set up against each other under Abiy Ahmed's predecessors. 

The ASCL is thrilled that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethiopia has won the Nobel Peace Prize 2019. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (1976) has won the prize 'for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea'. The ASCL is also delighted to announce that Mr Ahmed Ali has agreed to participate in the 'Africa 2020' activities the ASCL and LeidenASA will organize next year. 

Between 15 and 24 October Jan-Bart Gewald, Professor of African History at Leiden University, will be lecturing at seven universities in South Africa on new perspectives with regard to the period 1780-1840 in South Africa, which can be seen as one of the most fundamental periods of the country’s history. Prof. Gewald asserts that the ‘Time of Troubles’ can be better understood in the context of global interactions.

Studies on the religiosity of Sub-Sahara African Muslim migrants in Europe tend to give prominence to certain aspects of spirituality, like Sufism, but virtually not the wider question of belief and religiosity within the context of integration in a predominantly secular society. Taking belief as a multi-dimensional phenomenon with specific contexts, this study, therefore, seeks to enhance our nuanced understanding of Muslim religiosity among apolitical migrants who actively incorporate faith in their lives in secular societies accustomed to low-key approach to religiosity yet absorbed in the ‘war on terror’.