News & Events

Knowledge about religion and spirituality is essential in dealing with migrants of West African descent in the Netherlands who may be victims of human trafficking. This is the main conclusion of a study conducted by the Centre against Child and Human Trafficking (CKM), the African Studies Centre Leiden, and the University of Humanistic Studies. A culture-sensitive approach in which knowledge about religion and spirituality is included is a primary condition for communication with this target group. 

How much influence does the ambassador of the Netherlands in Mali have? How does he keep contact with a government that is constantly burdened by coups? On 21 September 2021 Amsterdam debating centre De Balie invited Marchel Gerrmann, Netherlands ambassador to Mali, and Mirjam de Bruijn, ASCL researcher and Mali expert, to reflect on current and future developments in the country. You can now watch the video.

In the year when the world became familiar with ‘zoonotic diseases’, and a photo of the locusts invasion in East Africa won a prize in the World Press Photo contest, the ‘animal turn’ in the social sciences is here to stay. Catering for this relatively new research theme, the ASCL Library does not need to revise its collection profile drastically, but it needs to address a potential information need, and direct students to relatively new research areas. Find out more in our latest Library Highlight!