News & Events

Rahmane Idrissa recently started at the ASCL as Assistant Professor in Islam in Contemporary Africa. He has two research interests: the politics of Islam and secularism in Africa, and state formation in African contexts. We interviewed Dr Idrissa on the history of his home country Niger, Salafi ideologies and secularism in Mali, and the EU's dealing with migration. Read the interview.

Polygynous husbands and wives cooperate less than monogamous ones and may contribute resources to the household with less altruistic motives, according to a paper by Marleen Dekker and colleagues in the April issue of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, the authors compared the willingness of husbands and wives to cooperate to maximize household gains. 

The Breaking Down Barriers project, a collaboration between the Liliane Foundation and the African Studies Centre Leiden, has won the Impact Challenge Award 2019. The award is a prize for Dutch charity organizations that care strongly about the effectiveness of their strategies. The ASCL has coordinated the research programme for the project. Other nominees were the Lung Fund, the Max Foundation, the Dutch Foundation for Disabled Children, and Simavi. 

In December 2018, the completely renovated AfricaMuseum in Tervuren (Belgium) reopened its doors. Bambi Ceuppens played a crucial role in the intense renovation and the development of the new displays between 2008 and 2018. She will tell how the old museum has been transformed into a modern museum about contemporary Africa, while looking back critically at the colonial past. Followed by a panel discussion with Annette Schmidt (Museum Wereldculturen), Kitty Zijlmans (Art History, Leiden) and Mirjam Hoijtink (UvA). Registration for this event has closed as we have reached the maximum capacity for the venue. 

In May 2019, Afrikaanse letterkunde, so far the one and only handbook of African literature in the Dutch language, will come out in a brand new edition at Amsterdam University Press. Mineke Schipper first published the book in 1983 and then in an updated version in 1990. The forthcoming AUP edition was co-written by Mineke Schipper, Daniela Merolla and Inge Brinkman. The new edition will be celebrated with a festive programme that includes as speakers Annachiara Raia (ASCL), Asis Aynan (initiator 'BerberBibliotheek'), and the authors themselves.

Why is it that a serious plane crash in Ethiopia only figures somewhere halfway the Dutch TV News, and only mentions the victims who have European or North-American nationalities? Why is it still so difficult to have African history included in the history curriculum in Dutch schools? It is about time that perspectives from Africa get incorporated and mainstreamed in Europe and beyond. African Studies has a role to play in this, Mayke Kaag writes in the ASCL Africanist Blog.

Registration is now open for two Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) minors that the ASCL co-organizes: the minor African Dynamics, and the minor Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Global Development. The first minor builds your understanding of integrated and sustainable development approaches in Africa from leading academics of the universities of Leiden, Delft, and Rotterdam, as well as guest speakers. In the minor on Frugal Innovation you will learn what frugal innovation implies for technology, entrepreneurship and sustainable global development.

In a context where sexuality remains extremely framed by reproductive values and principles, access to the Internet offers an unexpected opening to the world and unrestricted ways of enjoying a sexual life outside of imposed boundaries. In Cameroon, mobile phone coverage is estimated over 80%, and the number of internet subscribers has doubled in five years, from 14.16% in 2012 to 35.64% in 2017. 74% of internet traffic comes from mobile phones. Gender gap in accessing new technologies is relatively weak, especially in urban areas. This raises the following question: can digital technologies and their uses call into question male domination in social, political and economic relationships? By allowing sexual self-expression how can they challenge sexual inequalities that shape Cameroonian society? Grounded on a recent postdoctoral research on “The Internet, At Risk Sexual Practices and HIV/AIDS in Cameroon”, this presentation looks at smart phones and the internet as a mirror that allows us to better understand how gender and sexual hierarchies are challenged and reenacted through digital cultures.