Cleveringalezing by Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald: The Morality of Truth: The Importance of Facts in History

Prof. Jan-Bart Gewald, director of the African Studies Centre Leiden, will give the Cleveringalezing on 25 November 2017 at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, entitled: 'The Morality of Truth: The Importance of Facts in History'. 

In this lecture, Prof. Dr. Jan-Bart Gewald will discuss alternative facts and alternative histories, arguing that historical facts actually do exist and that historians can approach the truth of the past. Read the abstract.

The lecture is dedicated to the memory of Professor Rudolph Cleveringa (1894-1980), Dean of the Law Faculty at Leiden University. On 26 November 1940 during the Second World War Nazi–German occupation of the Netherlands, Prof. Cleveringa delivered a speech in protest to the forced dismissal of his Jewish colleagues. In honour of Prof. Cleveringa, academics from Leiden University deliver ‘Cleveringa Lectures’ around the same time every year at various locations worldwide.

Prof. Gewald is the new director of the African Studies Centre Leiden since 1 September 2017. He is Professor of African History and is specialized in the social history of Africa. Jan-Bart grew up in Africa and has lived in Botswana, Congo Kinshasa, Eritrea, Ghana, Namibia, Niger, South Africa and Zimbabwe prior to moving to the Netherlands.