European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) 2025 in Prague
We are excited that a large delegation of the African Studies Centre Leiden and the wider Leiden University will participate in the 10th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS). ECAS will take place from 25 to 28 June in Prague, hosted by the Czech Association for African Studies (CAAS).ECAS is the flagship event of AEGIS, the European African Studies Association, and is organised every second year. Among the 2,000 participants from all over the world, some 25 researchers from the ASCL and Leiden University will convene a panel or present a paper. Moreover, the ASCL will host a book stand with the latest ASCL publications on sale.
Librarians in African Studies
On 24 June, the European Librarians in African Studies (ELIAS) Annual Meeting will take place, in which Liesbeth Kanis, head of the ASCL Library, will participate. In addition, information specialist Ursula Oberst will speak here about 'Opening up African literatures through Wikibase', presenting the exciting African Literary Metadata (ALMEDA) project.
On 24 June, the European Librarians in African Studies (ELIAS) Annual Meeting will take place, in which Liesbeth Kanis, head of the ASCL Library, will participate. In addition, information specialist Ursula Oberst will speak here about 'Opening up African literatures through Wikibase', presenting the exciting African Literary Metadata (ALMEDA) project.
Theme
This year’s conference theme is African, Afropolitan, and Afropean Belongings. The past decades have seen a resurgence of identity politics all over the world and much of it has involved diverse African forms of belonging in a world where global North paradigms continue to be socio-economically, culturally and politically dominant. Considering the countless dimensions of human diversity constructed on the continent itself and within diverse diasporas, in physical and digital spaces, this conference aims to examine regionally specific struggles and how they impact on broader societies, cultures, multispecies ecologies, politics, and economies.
Read more about the theme.
Leiden participants
Below you find an overview of ASCL participants in the conference, including paper title, time and venue. For an overview of all Leiden participants, visit the detailed programme on the conference website, go to the search field on the left, and enter ‘Leiden’.
Wednesday 25 June
13:30 - 15.15 (part 1) and 15.45 - 17.30 (part 2), Hall 116
Panel: The Polemics of Religion and Sexuality: Media, Urbanity and Contested Normativities
Co-chair: Rijk van Dijk
First speaker: Kauthar Khamis
'Online kayan mata sex education: Relationships and Contestations between Religion and Culture in Madina Zongo, Accra'
Panel: The Polemics of Religion and Sexuality: Media, Urbanity and Contested Normativities
Co-chair: Rijk van Dijk
First speaker: Kauthar Khamis
'Online kayan mata sex education: Relationships and Contestations between Religion and Culture in Madina Zongo, Accra'
15:45 Hall 011
'“When the guns speak, mouths fall silent”: Exploring the family transmission of war memories in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo'
Speaker: Alliance Mango
'“When the guns speak, mouths fall silent”: Exploring the family transmission of war memories in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo'
Speaker: Alliance Mango
16:15-16:30, Hall 111
Sustainable transformations? The socio-spatial dimensions of green hydrogen’s rollout in the Limpopo Province, South Africa
Speakers: Susanne Nicolaysen and Eric Cezne
Sustainable transformations? The socio-spatial dimensions of green hydrogen’s rollout in the Limpopo Province, South Africa
Speakers: Susanne Nicolaysen and Eric Cezne
17:03 - 17:29, Hall 219
'Trying Kaleidoscopic Knowledge Production: Concrete initiatives of transformative research collaborations and what Pan-Africanism, Afro-centrism and Afropolitanism could bring'
Speaker: Mayke Kaag
Thursday 26 June
09:30 - 9:45, Hall 409
'Nigeria’s population growth: It is not what it is'
Speaker: Akinyinka Akinyoade
10:00 - 10:15, Hall 409
'The political demography of revolt: age structure, youth protest, and armed conflict in Sudan and Ethiopia, 2015-2024'
Speaker: Jon Abbink
10:00 - 10:15, Hall 225V
'The land of a thousand troubles: imaginaries of mental health problems, care and healing in Burundi'
Speaker: Lidewyde Berckmoes
13:15 - 13:45, Hall 209
Presentation of the book Trust and Trust-Making in Africa's Global Connections
Speaker (among others): Mayke Kaag
Friday 27 June
09:52 - 10:18, Hall U4
'The digital scramble for Africa: New ICTs and social inequalities'
Speaker: Mirjam de Bruijn
13:30 - 14:00, Hall 201
Presentation of photo-ethnographic book TRACES, on the effects of war
Speaker: Lidewyde Berckmoes
15:00 - 15:21, Hall 018
'"Plagues" and Pesticides: Slow and Sudden Horrors of an African Anthropocene'
Speaker: Miriam Waltz
Saturday 28 June
09:00 - 09:21, Hall 408
'Advancing Epistemic Plurality and Equitable Knowledge Exchange in Higher Education'
Speaker: Madi Ditmars
10:24 - 10:45, Hall 010
'God-fearing togetherness: walking and working with Muslim educators in Chad'
Speaker: Luca Bruls
Speaker: Luca Bruls
09:00 - 09:26, Hall 318
"But was it decolonial? Did you ask the dead?" - Concerning the politics of use, return and/or ‘reconstructive’ practices relating to The Archived Dead of institutional hold(ing)s, and public culture'
Speaker: Vikram Kershan Pancham
Speaker: Vikram Kershan Pancham
09:00 - 09:21, Hall 300
'"When the guns speak, mouths fall silent": Exploring the family transmission of war memories in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo'
Speaker: Alliance K Mango
11:57 - 12:18, Hall 200
'The making of hydrogen landscapes in Africa: Power and geographical perspectives on an emergent field of research'
Speaker: Eric Cezne
11h57 - 12h18, Hall 209, FA
'Navigating Identity and Insecurity: The Evolving Relationship of the Banyamulenge Community with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo Across Generations'
Speaker: Aurore Vermylen (Visiting Fellow)
Posted on 20 May 2025, last modified on 23 June 2025