News & Events

Youthful population age structures represent formidable constraints to the attainment of upper-middle levels of social, economic, and political development. Research suggests that unless their populations reach the demographic window, states in Sub-Saharan Africa will be unable to reach the World Bank’s upper-middle income class. Most countries in equatorial Africa and the Sahel are due for this development breakthrough sometime after 2055. Political demographer Prof. Richard Cincotta will shed his light on the timing of African development on 11 March.

Did you miss the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture by Prof. Jonathan D. Jansen? You can now watch it on our YouTube channel. Jonathan Jansen, Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University and President of the Academy of Science of South Africa, gave the lecture, entitled 'Decolonising the mind? - Stadig oor die klippers', on 26 November. Prof. Jansen spoke about the re-awakening of decolonisation in the public consciousness from Europe to North America and South Africa.

Leiden University will confer an honorary doctorate on human rights and child rights activist Graça Machel on its Founcation Day, 8 February 2021. Ms Machel will receive the honorary doctorate for her lifelong commitment to the rights of children. The ceremony can be watched via livestream.

The African Studies Centre Leiden is delighted to announce the ASCL Seminar Series speakers for 2021. The ASCL Seminars are invited (online) lectures given by some of the most prominent researchers in the field of African Studies. Dr Jennifer Chansa, University of the Free State, will kick off the series with a lecture on regulating copper mining and the history of environmental management in Zambia.

Like the ASCL, Clingendael Spectator also reflected on 60 years of independence in Africa. A special dossier contains seven articles (a.o. articles written by ASCL researchers Jan Abbink, Ton Dietz and Lidewyde Berckmoes) and a synthesis by Kiza Magendane, as well as an overview of the activities and knowledge products of the ASCL in 2020. The articles are in Dutch.

In her latest book This Mournable Body (shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize), Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her first novel Nervous Conditions (1988) and its sequel The Book of Not (2006). Her debut novel was the first to be written in English by a black woman from Zimbabwe. Her debut novel dealt with the girl called Tambu who grew up in a Shona family in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in the 1960s. In the third part of the trilogy, Tambu is middle-aged. Read the Library Highlight!

The COVID-19 pandemic in Africa has, as in other parts of the world, an enormous impact on all aspects of life. A vast body of literature is developing on the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa and its social, economical, and political consequences. This ‘growing’ web dossier keeps track of new scientific publications on this subject. Also links to relevant web resources will be included. In the coming year, it will be regularly updated. Read the web dossier.