On 2 June, Mayke Kaag gave a keynote speech at the UN Headquarters in New York about the importance of trust and trust-making in African politics for security sector reform. The other keynote speaker was renowned economist Paul Collier. Both keynotes can now be watched online.

We are excited that the 10th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) will take place from 25 to 28 June in Prague, hosted by the Czech Association for African Studies. Some 25 researchers from the ASCL and the wider Leiden University will convene a panel or present a paper.

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2024 prize has been awarded to Baleseng Maeneche, a graduate of the University of the Western Cape, for her thesis 'Media Representations of Male Perpetrators of Violence against Women and Children: A Decolonial Feminist Analysis'.

To further new insights and conversations, Eric Cezne will be organising a South-South dialogue ‘from below’ on green hydrogen. The workshop will be held in Namibia in March 2026 and will bring together hydrogen-affected populations, grassroots groups, and academics from Namibia, South Africa, and Brazil. 

Ten years after the #RhodesMustFall movement reignited debates about decolonisation and identity in South African education, Esma Karadağ explores how Pan-Africanism continues to evolve in the country’s schools. In a new blog post she asks: Who gets to be African?

The ASCL hosted the highly inspiring two-day workshop Ruptures and Riches: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of African Mineral Resource Extraction on 20 and 21 March. The workshop was organised by African Studies Research Master students.