African Studies Centre Leiden

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African Studies Centre Leiden

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The African Studies Centre Leiden is the only multidisciplinary academic research institute in the Netherlands devoted entirely to the study of Africa. It welcomes African scholars through its visiting fellowship programme, has a monthly seminar programme and an extensive library that is open to the general public. ASCL is an interfaculty institute of Leiden University (NL).

13/10/2026

📢 How do humanitarian workers negotiate access with rebel groups in conflict zones?

On 5 November, Dr. Myfanwy James (London School of Economics and Political Science) will join us for an ASCL Seminar on humanitarian access in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Drawing on ethnographic research, she will explore the crucial role of locally hired aid workers in building trust, navigating violent political environments, and keeping humanitarian operations running.

📅 5 November 2026
🕓 16:00–17:30
📍 Herta Mohr Building, room 0.31, Leiden
💻 Online participation is available for registrants who cannot travel to Leiden.

🔗 Register here: https://buff.ly/a34Pcgr

12/10/2026

💹 On 7 October, the African Union launched its own credit rating agency AfCRA, which aims to take greater account of local context than the 'big three', Moody’s, Fitch or S&P. These three dominate the global market, and their assessments carry considerable weight among large institutional investors, who use them to inform investment decisions.

Chibuike Uche, Professor of Financial Governance and Integrity in Africa at Leiden University, was interviewed by Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) about the new African credit rating agency. He welcomes the development and calls copying and pasting international standards a major problem. For African countries, many of which are heavily indebted and languish near the bottom of the rating scales, this makes securing financing both difficult and expensive.

Knowledge of the local context is therefore highly relevant, Prof. Uche said.

➡️ Read the interview (in Dutch, subscribers' access).
🔗 https://buff.ly/6M0KOHD

08/10/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Mandipa Ndlovu, who succesfully defended her PhD dissertation 'Myth, memory, and political settlements in the city: compounded disadvantage and a path for plausible futures' on 23 September at Leiden University.

📓 Her dissertation interrogates the structural, symbolic, and futures-facing dimensions of urban disadvantage in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city. It argues that the city’s marginalisation is not simply the result of economic decline nor poor governance, but part of a wider 'architecture of disadvantage': a system built over time through colonial legacies, post-independence political settlements, centralised power, militarised governance, patron-client networks, spatial inequality, and entrenched myths about the city.

We look forward to your next career steps, Dr Ndlovu!

08/10/2026

📚️ This summer, Aba Amandzewaa Anaman, Head Librarian of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, undertook a professional work exchange with the African Library in Leiden to share ideas and experiences. Her stay in the Netherlands included a visit to the National Library and a workshop with Leiden University Libraries staff. One of her reflections: African Studies libraries should be partners in deciding how Africa is documented, described, preserved and represented.

👉️ Read her insightful blog!

🔗 https://buff.ly/PuRWYUJ

06/10/2026

🕊️ Peace Movements Project Seminar: Nuclear Power and Decolonisation in Africa (1957-1963)

In the mid-twentieth century, the dawn of the nuclear age coincided with the end of colonial empire. This convergence of technological and political revolutions on such a global scale had few precedents. The hope for those who recognised its possibilities was that the world would become a more equal place. The fear was that it would entrench disparities in wealth and perceptions of human worth.

Drawing on a book project centred on Europe and Africa, this talk by Chloë Mayoux puts forward the proposition that the nuclear age had a tangible and lasting influence on the ways global relations were renegotiated during decolonisation. It also reflects on the episode’s insights for the technological, geopolitical, and ecological shifts we are presently living through.

Chloë Mayoux is a global and diplomatic historian of technology, empire, and international relations in modern Europe and Africa. She is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Vienna's Institute for History

This seminar is organised by Leiden University's Institute for History and the ASCL, in the framework of The Peace Movements Project.

📆 26 October
📍 Herta Mohr Building, Witte Singel 27a, 2311 BG Leiden, Room 0.31
🕓 16:00–17:30
🔗 https://buff.ly/eQG9IGe

05/10/2026

🌍 Africa-China relations are made not only in ministries. They are also made through everyday encounters in the workplace, between supervisors and workers.

🫷🫸 Research by Robel Mulat and Chong Zhang in Ethiopia and Ghana suggests that work resistance does not always take the form of strikes, demonstrations, or open confrontation; workers also resist through everyday actions that are easy to overlook. Moreover, a comparison between the two countries challenges the idea that Chinese engagement produces a single or uniform labour experience across Africa.

👓️ Read the latest contribution to the ASCL Africanist Blog by Mulat and Zhang: What hidden worker resistance reveals about Africa-China engagement.

🔗 https://buff.ly/BCeepPg

02/10/2026

Newspapers are more than headlines. They capture the voices and concerns of their time.

With our Readex collections African Newspapers Series 1 & 2 and the renowned Rand Daily Mail, you can browse historical newspapers from across the African continent and uncover perspectives often absent from other archives.

Whether you're researching colonial history, independence movements, social change, culture, or daily life, these archives offer a rich collection of primary sources from across Africa.

Explore the African Library's online resources for more - https://buff.ly/WljgTUA

01/10/2026

📢 Wat betekent een sterke El Niño voor Afrika én Europa?

Aan de hand van actuele voorbeelden uit Malawi laat Tanja Hendriks (?locale=nl_NL & African Studies Centre Leiden) zien hoe internationale politieke keuzes doorwerken tot op lokaal niveau. Ze bespreekt de complexe relatie tussen rampenbestrijding, klimaatadaptatie, de rol van de staat en mondiale stabiliteit.

🌍 Actualiteitencollege LeidenGlobal: El Niño & Europa: hoe een klimaatschok grenzen overschrijdt
📅 12 oktober 2026
🕔 17.00–18.15 uur, inloop vanaf 16.45 uur
📍 Amare, Den Haag
🎟️ Gratis toegang, aanmelden is niet nodig
🗣️ Het college is in het Nederlands

30/09/2026

Last chance! Have you submitted your thesis yet?

Did you write a master’s thesis on Africa? Here’s why you should submit it to the Africa Thesis Award! 👇

• Have your work published by Brill
• Win € 500
• Boost your research career

The Africa Thesis Award 2026 is still open, and it could open doors for your future too!

The thesis must have been completed at a university in the Netherlands or at a university in an African country.

📅 Deadline: 30 September 2026
ℹ️ All submission details: https://buff.ly/UOANokZ

29/09/2026

Just 2 days left! Have you submitted your thesis yet?

Did you write a master’s thesis on Africa? Here’s why you should submit it to the Africa Thesis Award! 👇

• Have your work published by Brill
• Win € 500
• Boost your research career

The Africa Thesis Award 2026 is still open, and it could open doors for your future too!

The thesis must have been completed at a university in the Netherlands or at a university in an African country.

📅 Deadline: 30 September 2026
ℹ️ All submission details: https://buff.ly/UOANokZ

Adres

Witte Singel 27A
Leiden
2311BG

Telefoon

+31715273372

Website

https://www.ascleiden.nl/

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