News & Events

As Ethiopia is experiencing a new round of turmoil, ASCL senior researcher Jan Abbink has been interviewed by several media and has written blogs and articles himself analysing the current situation and its historical background. Abbink emphasises two issues: inequities in the land system, and the fact that development consists not only of economic factors but of a social, cultural, and political context of inclusiveness, 'a point which remains poorly understood by donors to African countries'. We created an overview of Abbink's activity in the media.

The theme of this year’s Voice4Thought Festival is ‘People in motion’. On this occasion, the ASCL Library has compiled a selection of library items related to the theme. The selection highlights items on diverse art forms, such as film, music, and literature. It includes personal stories from ‘people on the move’ and offers background through various literary and social studies. Check out the ASCL Library selection!

On 12 September Muslims all over the world celebrated the Sacrificial Feast (Eid al-Adha). Every year the uncertainty of the lunar date to which this feast is linked, instigates religious disputes about the correct determination. The Nigerian book Moonsighting, by Abu ‘Aaishah Murtadha Salahuddeen al-Iwoowee, a reformist preacher hailing from Iwo, offers insight into these debates and sheds light on shifting perceptions on Muslim authority, the nation-state, and Christian-Muslim relations in Africa. It is the subject of our latest Library Highlight!

The ASCL and the ASCL Community mourn the loss of Kees Burger, fellow of the ASCL Community. Kees was an economist who did research in East Africa, while working first at the VU Amsterdam and later at Wageningen University. One of his projects was a restudy of the famous study by Mary Tiffen and colleagues in Kenya, More People, Less Erosion. With Fred Zaal, he edited the book Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics: Explaining the Miracle.

This is a Cocoon Initiative Kenya Working Paper. In it, Marcel Rutten en Moses Mwangi provide a short historical overview of land policy and land law development in Kenya and the way these have affected and still impact the position of women in Kenyan society. In particular, they present detailed cases of the use of fake wives by cheating husbands, in an attempt to convince the local Land Control Board that the intended sale of part of the family land is conducted with the full approval of the other household members.