News & Events

The consequences of climate change are experienced worldwide, but the African continent appears to carry the heaviest burden when it comes to adapting to climate change. To explore how climate change could be addressed in Africa, the Netherlands Association for African Studies (NVAS) organizes the NVAS Africa Day 2018 ‘Responding to climate change in Africa’, together with the World Wide Fund for Nature, on 20 October at WWF Netherlands’ climate-neutral head office in Zeist.

The current transitions in Africa generate business development towards unprecedented economic and technological specialization. In the process, new endogenous African firms start to emerge. During this lunch seminar on 12 September Paul Ingenbleek, Wageningen University and Research, will discuss on-going work that is based on a variety of projects that lead to new insights in African firms. Bring your own lunch!

Cora Dekker initiated, trained and supervised community-based sociotherapy initiatives in Rwanda, East Congo and Liberia from 2005 to 2018. This handbook describes the process of training in four geographically and politically diverse areas where war had left deep scars. 

The objective of this meeting on 23 October is to provide insight into the background of the continuing crisis in the Sahel. The meeting will consist of five moderated presentations, with Q&A sessions, to be followed by a Round Table discussion. Among the speakers are Prof. Mirjam de Bruijn (ASCL), Prof. Han van Dijk (ASCL), Sergei Boeke (Leiden University), Modibo Galy Cissé (PhD Leiden University) and Dr Mamadou Bodian (Sahel Research Group, University of Florida). 

In May the ASCL’s research project 'Being young in times of duress in the Central African Republic', was closed with an end conference in Bangui. The research project, a collaboration with UNICEF, dealt with the relationship between youth and armed groups in CAR. Read the short report of the end conference. (Photo: Sjoerd Sijsma).

Librarians and archivists in African Studies met in Vienna during the 12th Annual Meeting of ELIAS, European Librarians in African Studies, on 1 June. Information specialists from the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland got together to exchange news on collections, websites, integrating the Sustainable Development Goals and other new developments in their field.

The ASCL Library recently added pictorial works to its collection showcasing two of Africa’s many colourful fashion and art forms. Two new French-language books, Wax & co: anthologie des tissus imprimés d'Afrique, by Anne Grosfilley, and Wax, by Anne-Marie Bouttiaux, focus on the history of popular West African textiles, which are often referred to as ‘Dutch wax’ (wax hollandais). Read the library highlight!