News & Events

This article in 'Children & Society' by Lidewyde Berckmoes and colleagues explores how children in conflict‐affected Burundi deal with violence in their everyday lives. Focusing on schools as a context in which children are prepared for further roles in society, research was conducted at 36 primary schools throughout Burundi. Findings reveal that children use a variety of strategies to deal with violence they encounter. These strategies are ultimately aimed at reducing vulnerability to (future) violence.

In this special event on 7 November, Harry Wels and Jan-Bart Gewald will have a curated conversation with Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast (2016), a New York Times Bestseller. For Being a Beast Foster literally tried to live like animals, choosing a badger, an otter, a fox, a deer and a swift. Foster will be asked about qualitative research methods such as participative observation, and his view on African Studies from the perspective of animals.

While the 2019 Women's World Cup set everyone's mind on football, this Library Highlight deals with football in Africa. The ASCL Library contains several books, articles and DVDs about football, including women’s football, which is becoming ever more popular in Africa. This highlight focusses on the book 'The People’s Game: football fandom in Zimbabwe' by Manase Kudzai Chiwese and the documentary film 'Ladies’ Turn' by Hélène Harder. Read the latest Library Highlight!

The University of Edinburgh hosted the 8th European Conference on African Studies, Europe’s largest conference with an African focus, from 11-14 June. With about 250 panels and up to 1500 attendants, the conference was a huge success. About thirty researchers from the ASCL/Leiden University organized a panel or presented a paper.