News & Events

2020 is the year in which 17 countries on the African continent will celebrate 60 years of independence. The Africanists from Leiden University and its LDE-partners TU Delft and Erasmus University (united in ‘LeidenASA’, hosted by the ASCL) will organize 'Africa 2020', a year full of workshops, film screenings, peer coaching for PhD students, seminars and two large conferences: ‘Africa: 60 years of independence’ in January, and ‘Africa knows!’ in December 2020. 

Her interest lies in the entanglement of African Studies and Arabic Studies from a literary perspective. Annachiara Raia works for both the ASCL and the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). In the Leiden University Libraries she found a special collection of 900 printed books from Eastern Africa, mostly on Islamic doctrines. Originally written in e.g. Urdu or Arabic, they have been translated mainly into Swahili. 'This collection is a real gem’, she says. ‘Who wrote the original texts, how have these texts travelled?' Read the interview with Annachiara Raia!

A relatively unknown feature in Africa’s international relations is the slow return of Israel to the continent, re-establishing diplomatic relations and cooperation programs. Growing contacts between Israel and the (Sunni) Muslim world helped to take away Africa’s hesitation for reconnecting with Israel. While advancing its business interests, Israel has no ‘imperialist’ agenda in Africa, Jan Abbink observes in his latest contribution to the ASCL Africanist Blog.