News & Events

During the Africa Works 2014 Conference in Leiden, a petition on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was drawn up, asking for immediate action from the Netherlands government and the European Commission. The petition was handed over to Mr Hans Docter (the Netherlands envoy on Ebola), and was also addressed to Ms Lilianne Ploumen (the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) and to Mr Fernando Frutuoso de Melo (the Director General of EuropeAid). Mr Fernando Frutuoso de Melo has recently responded to the petition.

The ASC Annual Public Event, a performance by poet Phillippa Yaa de Villiers from South Africa, was a big success. Phillippa Yaa de Villiers is the Commonwealth poet 2014. For the ASC Annual Event she performed Shades, in which she explores race, identity and politics in South Africa. After the performance she was recognized as 'ASC honorary artist', a special membership of the ASC Community. The event took place on 8 December at the Hogeschool Leiden. Have a look at the pictures!

Two new books out by ASC senior researcher Walter van Beek: Contes Kapsiki du Cameroun (Kapsiki Stories from Cameroon) and Sacred Spaces and Contested Identities: Space and Ritual Dynamics in Europe and Africa. For the first book, Van Beek and Henry Tourneux collected and edited stories from the Kapsiki in Cameroon. Animals, human beings and supernatural beings are the main characters. The second book, edited by Van Beek, Paul Post and Philip Nel, is a volume on the position of sacred space, within the broader context of ritual and religious dynamics. Both books can be borrowed from the Library!