News & Events

Ton Dietz has been awarded the International Geographical Union’s special Lauréat d’honneur in recognition of his services to geography. The award was presented to him by the President of the IGU, Prof. Vladimir Kolossov (Russia), at the organization’s regional conference in Kyoto on 9 August 2013.

This seminar will examine the 2013 general elections in Kenya. Charles Hornsby will present a comparative analysis of five of the six simultaneous elections. How viable is the underlying basis of support for the Jubilee coalition? Hornsby will discuss events since April, focussing on the transfer of power to local authorities, the new 'non-political' ministerial structure and developments at the International Criminal Court. Why do the results of the election remain contested? Find out at our seminar on 14 November. (Photo: Stephen Wanjau)

The Rethinking Indigeneity Project, led by Keyan Tomaselli of the University of Kwazulu-Natal, has conducted research amongst indigenous populations in Southern Africa for twenty years now. At this seminar on 24 October, Tomaselli will focus on the Bushmen (San): what has been and is the perception of the Bushmen by Westerners, notably tourists? What about the perception the other way round? And what methods of research do ethnographers have at their disposal?

The library will be closed from Monday 5 August - Friday 9 August. The library will be open again on Monday 12 August.

On July 3rd, 2013 the Nairobi Case Study of FOODMETRES took place at the University of Nairobi. 20 people attended the event, with a broad range of interests, including the academics, urban farmers, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, the Nesalf – a forum for urban farmers –, planners for the Nairobi City council, whilst the Governor of Nairobi was represented by the Town Clerk, who also delivered the key note and opening address.

Timbuktu in Mali was occupied by rebels in the middle of 2012. A few months later, thousands of the famous manuscripts of Timbuktu were evacuated to be safe from destruction. This operation was done in secret. How did the manuscripts travel from Timbuktu to the capital of Mali, Bamako, about 800 km away? What means of communication were used? Dr Shamil Jeppie from the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project (University of Cape Town) gives a lecture on Tuesday 17 September at 15:00 in Leiden (Lipsius Building).  Photo: © D Intl/Savamaldci/Gamma