News & Events

Margot Leegwater's PhD thesis has been published in the African Studies Collection. Her study examines the effects of land-access and land-tenure policies on local community relations, including ethnicity, and land conflicts in post-conflict rural Rwanda. Violence has historically often been linked to land, and the current growing resentment and fear surrounding these land-related policies and the ever-increasing land conflicts could jeopardize Rwanda's recovery and stability. Leegwater succesfully defended her PhD dissertation on 16 September at the VU University Amsterdam.

Het ASC interviewde promovenda Margot Leegwater over haar onderzoek naar landconflicten in Rwanda. Leegwater zal op 16 september 2015 promoveren aan de Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Titel van haar proefschrift: 'Sharing Scarcity: Land Access and Social Relations in Southeast Rwanda.' (English:) The ASC interviewed PhD candidate Margot Leegwater about her research on land conflicts in Rwanda. Leegwater will defend her PhD Thesis on 16 September 2015 at the VU University Amsterdam.

David Livingstone and the Myth of African Poverty and Disease is an unusual book. After a close examination of Livingstone's writings and comparative reading of contemporary authors, Sjoerd Rijpma has been able to draw cautious conclusions about the relatively favourable conditions of health and nutrition in southern and central Africa during the pre-colonial period. The surprise awaiting travellers in and also before 19th century Africa was that the inhabitants of the interior, even the 'slaves', were healthier and better fed than many Europeans. Sadly, Sjoerd Rijpma died on 6 February of this year.