Professor Jan-Bart Gewald has been appointed as the new director of the African Studies Centre in Leiden with effect from 1 September 2017, for a period of five years. Professor Gewald will succeed Ton Dietz, who will be retiring in September.

As of 1 September Jan-Bart Gewald has been appointed as Professor of Southern African History in the Leiden Institute for History, in conjunction with the African Studies Centre, Leiden.

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) has received a 4m grant for the ECOTIP project. In this project researchers will study how our physical environment affects our health. The aim is to find tipping points: at what point is there a real lack of greenery, healthy food or clean air in a neighb…

The territories that would make up what is today the Republic of Zambia officially became British in 1891. However, this did not equate to an on-the-ground presence of colonial authority capable of affecting the destiny and daily lives of people.

What was the environmental impact of the industrial mining revolution that transformed southern Africa? Specifically, what was the impact of industrial mining when viewed from a more than human multi-species perspective?

The authors in this volume explore how external innovations (products, technologies, services, institutions and processes) have been appropriated in African societies in order to be acceptable and relevant to local conditions, expectations and demands.

History can be found in utensils and in interviews with ordinary citizens. ‘With the reconstruction of everyday life, an anthropological approach works better,’ thinks historian Jan-Bart Gewald. Inaugural lecture on 6 June.

A school lesson by a professor, for instance about the history of Africa, the climate or research and healthcare. A hundred Leiden professors told primary school children about their work in the Meet the Professor project.

Mmmonk en het Henri Pirenne Instituut voor Middeleeuwse Studies (UGent) organiseren eind 2024 de tweede editie van Mmmonk School: Lessen voor gevorderde beginners rond het middeleeuwse boek. Mmmonk School biedt een interdisciplinair praktijkgericht programma over middeleeuwse Vlaamse manuscripten. Experts…

Stay tuned for updates on relevant media appearances of Ellen de Bruijn.

De inschrijvingen voor de Mmmonk school zijn geopend. Mmmonk School biedt een interdisciplinair praktijkgericht programma over middeleeuwse Vlaamse manuscripten. Experts geven een inleiding bij de belangrijkste concepten, methodes en vaardigheden uit hun discipline. De lessen zijn online, gratis, en…

At one time, the railway from Kimberley to Kambove in Southern Africa symbolised prosperity and progress. Today, the exhausted mining towns along its route are marked by decay and pollution. Professor Jan-Bart Gewald has been awarded an NWO L grant to investigate the long-term global consequences.

‘Collaboration is increasingly important,’ Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker said at the 445th Dies Natalis of Leiden University on 7 February. But, as he heard from a number of Leiden researchers, this is contingent upon a firm disciplinary basis. A novelty of this year’s celebration was a joint dies…

From street harassment to coercive control: gender-based violence has many faces. University Lecturer Mischa Dekker has studied street harassment in the Netherlands and France, and supports institutions and organisations in embedding structural change.

On the occasion of the retirement of Robert Ross, Professor in African History at Leiden University, his successor and former student Jan-Bart Gewald wrote a valedictory note.

South African professor Lungisile Ntsebeza will receive an honorary doctorate on the Foundation Day of Leiden University on Friday 7 February. Ntsebeza is an authority in the democratisation of rural South Africa and poverty reduction.

In the media, we hear a lot of worrying news from Africa: refugees, attacks, Ebola, starvation, corruption... But Africa is much more than that: it is a continent in transition, with developments occurring at breakneck speed. African Studies scholars from different academic disciplines in Leiden conduct…

How do insurance products transform intimate and personal relations? What are the consequences of the classifications that insurance companies use and how do these affect solidarity, morality and inequality?

In 2024, many of our students and staff won great prizes and secured important research grants.

LUCIS organiseerde op woensdag 4 maart een speciale avond over journalistiek in Irak. Journaliste Judit Neurink en programmamaker Sakir Khader vertelden over hun ervaringen en recente werkzaamheden in het land. De avond stond onder leiding van Wendelmoet Boersema (politiek redacteur van dagblad Trou…

Comparing terrorist attacks with falling off a step ladder is absurd, writes Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn in NRC Handelsblad on 27 September 2017.

If you follow the western media, you are likely to think of ‘Africa’ as the continent of origin of desperate migrants, a continent of hunger and disease and a breeding ground for international terrorism. But if you want to see the bigger picture, you should look no further than the African Studies scholars…

African Studies is a field notoriously lacking in African scholars. Miriam Siun, research master student in this field, noticed this from the moment she started the programme. She decided to take matters into her own hands and hold a seminar reflecting on this issue.

Last Thursday, March 6, Sabine Luning passed away after an illness of more than six months. Sabine was an inspiring teacher who enthused generations of anthropology students with both the theoretical side of social science and the practice of intensive fieldwork. As a researcher, she produced innovative…

North Korean workers designed and built numerous monuments, museums and other buildings in southern Africa. This is clear from research by history student Tycho van der Hoog for his master's thesis. These monuments can be an important source of income for a country that has become quite isolated on…

PhD defence

Having mostly ignored the gains Dutch traders, investors and firms attained from serving the French, English and Iberian empires, debate in the Netherlands now demands a re-evaluation of Dutch colonial responsibilities. By recovering knowledge of these gains, this project will measure the wealth obtained…

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of our former colleague dr. Karin Willemse, who passed away on Saturday 18 March 2023.

In 2020, many of our staff and students have again won prestigious prizes and been awarded important research subsidies.