News & Events

This month’s Library Highlight focuses on ‘De koerier van Maputo’ (The Courier of Maputo) by Jenne Jan Holtland. In this recently acquired Dutch-language non-fiction work by journalist Jenne Jan Holtland, the writer explores the surreal yet true story of Klaas de Jonge, a Dutch citizen who became involved in the armed struggle against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, and who ended up spending over two years in diplomatic asylum in the Dutch embassy in Pretoria. Read the Highlight!

In the 1930s, sociologist and anthropologist Sjoerd Hofstra spent almost two years among Mende people in the small village of Panguma, Sierra Leone. Here he took hundreds of photos. The Hofstra photo collection, based at the ASCL library, was recently uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Providing access to this collection does much to balance African imagery that is often dominated by negative representations, argues library intern Cameron Stone. Read his blog!

Dr Akinyinka Akinyoade is the new chair of the ASCL Researchers' Assembly. Akinyoade took over from Prof. Jan Abbink during the meeting of 19 January, where Prof. Abbink was thanked warmly for his exemplary leadership of and commitment to the Assembly for many years. Among other things, Dr Akinyoade wants to consolidate the continuous gains of the ASCL Collaborative Research Groups.

African Studies MA alumna Femke van Zeijl has been nominated for the Volkskrant IISG Thesis Award 2021 for her thesis 'The Curious Case of Casa do Fernandez: Challenges of Heritage Management in Nigeria’. The thesis award of Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant and the International Institute of Social History is yearly presented to a student who has written an excellent thesis about a historical subject. Van Zeijl is one of three nominees; the winner will be announced on 24 March.