Looking back on an insightful 10th Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture

On 4 December the ASCL had the honour of hosting Koert Lindijer, Africa correspondent for NRC and NOS, who delivered the 10th Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture. Based on his experience of 40 years of reporting from Africa, Lindijer gave a compelling lecture (pdf) on the issues facing African governance today.

Reflections on the lecture were provided by Jelte van Wieren (pdf), director for Sub-Sahara Africa at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rahmane Idrissa (pdf), senior researcher at the ASCL, and Mandipa Ndlovu (pdf), PhD candidate at the ASCL. 

Watch the video recording of the event.

Media attention for the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture by Koert Lindijer:

• Dutch newspaper NRC published an edited version of Koert's speech (online or as pdf; 5 December)
• Leiden University weekly Mare published an interview with Koert Lindijer (28 November)
• Dutch regional newspaper Leidsch Dagblad wrote a report about the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture (online or pdf; 6 December)
• Koert Lindijer was interviewed by Radio 1 (interview starts after 2 hours 34 minutes; 4 December).

Also check out the web dossier featuring a selection of recent publications related to African governance, including books by Koert Lindijer and Stephen Ellis.

Inventory of Stephen Ellis's archive now online
We are proud to announce that the inventory of Stephen Ellis's archive is now accessible online. Stephen Ellis's archive is a repository of his entire professional life, spanning from his PhD research at the University of Oxford in the late 1970s to his tenure as a senior researcher at the ASCL until his untimely death in 2015. Ellis’s scholarly journey is meticulously documented across 91 archival boxes and 614 folders, making this collection an extraordinary resource for researchers, historians, and anyone interested in African Studies.

Every year, a committee consisting of the director of the African Studies Centre Leiden, the Chair of the ASCL Researchers Assembly, and Prof. Gerrie ter Haar (Stephen Ellis’ widow) invites a speaker to give the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture. A big thank you to the participants of this year's event: Koert Lindijer, Gerrie ter Haar, Akinyinka Akinyoade, Mandipa Ndlovu, Jelte van Wieren and Rahmane Idrissa, as well as the audience, both in the lecture hall and online.