View source for African Studies Centre Leiden

{{Infobox organization
| name          = African Studies Centre, Leiden
| native_name   =
| former_name   =
| image         = HertaMohrLeiden2024.jpg
| image_border  =
| size          = <!-- default 200px -->
| alt           = <!-- alt text; see [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption       = The [[Herta Mohr]] Building in Leiden, where  the African Studies Centre is located
| map           =
| pushpin_map = Netherlands#Europe
| msize         = <!-- map size, optional, default 250px -->
| malt          = <!-- map alt text -->
| mcaption      =
| map2          =
| abbreviation  = ASC Leiden
| motto         =
| predecessor   =
| successor     =
| formation     = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| founder       = <!-- or | founders = -->
| extinction    = <!-- {{End date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| merger        =
| merged        =
| type          = <!-- [[Governmental organization|GO]], [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]], [[Intergovernmental organization|IGO]], [[International nongovernmental organization|INGO]], etc -->
| status        = <!-- ad hoc, treaty, foundation, etc -->
| purpose       = <!-- focus as e.g. humanitarian, peacekeeping, etc -->
| professional_title = <!-- for professional associations -->
| headquarters  =
| location      =
| coordinates = {{WikidataCoord|display=it}}
| region_served =
| services      =
| membership    =
| language      =
| general       = <!-- Secretary General -->
| leader_title  = Director
| leader_name   = Marleen Dekker
| leader_title2 =
| leader_name2  =
| leader_title3 =
| leader_name3  =
| leader_title4 =
| leader_name4  =
| key_people    =
| main_organ    = <!-- gral. assembly, board of directors, etc -->
| parent_organization = <!-- if one -->
| subsidiaries  =
| affiliations  =
| budget        =
| num_staff     =
| num_volunteers=
| slogan        =
| website       = http://www.ascleiden.nl
| remarks       =
| footnotes     =
}}{{Short description|A scientific institute in the Netherlands}}
The '''African Studies Centre''' ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''Afrika-Studiecentrum'') is a scientific institute in the Netherlands that undertakes social-science research on [[Africa]] with the aim of promoting a better understanding of historical, current and future social developments in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]. The centre is an interfaculty institute of Leiden
University. The present director since 2021 is Marleen Dekker.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.ascleiden.nl/news/prof-marleen-dekker-appointed-new-director-african-studies-centre-leiden |title= Prof. Marleen Dekker appointed new director of the African Studies Centre Leiden |website=African Studies Centre, Leiden}}</ref> The institute is located in the Herta Mohr Building of [[Leiden University]]’s Faculty of Humanities.
==Research==
The research of the Afrika-Studiecentrum Leiden covers four themes: politics and security, society, religion and culture, and economics and history.
Various projects study international relations of African countries with the [[BRIC]] countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf]], economic development and entrepreneurship, and processes in African politics and legislation. Other areas of research are language use in social movements in Africa, new developments in healthcare through telecommunications and [[e-health]] (electronic health), [[natural conservation]] and African [[historiography]].
The Afrika-Studiecentrum publishes scientific articles and various books about its research, in-house or in collaboration with publishers such as [[Brill Publishers|Brill]], including the [[Africa Yearbook]] and the series ''African Dynamics'', the ''African Studies Collection'', and the ''Africa Study Center Series''. The topics range from international migration to social aspects of football in Africa. Most books also appear in an electronic (online) version. The Afrika-Studiecentrum annually awards a prize for the best Master's thesis in the field.
<!--
The main objectives of the African Studies Centre (ASC) are to promote and undertake [[Scientific method|scientific research]] on Sub-Saharan Africa in the social sciences and humanities, to function as the main focal point for [[African studies]] in the [[Netherlands]] and contribute to education and teaching in this field, and to promote the dissemination of knowledge and an understanding of African societies.
The research programme of the African Studies Centre for the period 2012-2016 is entitled ‘African Dynamism amidst Global Restructuring’.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/ascls-research-programme-2012-2016|title=The ASCL’s Research Programme 2012-2016|website=African Studies Centre Leiden|access-date=13 June 2016}}</ref> It will focus on four major fields of inquiry, with flexible and shifting emphasis by its members of staff and members of the ASC Community temporarily present at the ASC.
The four fields of enquiry are:
# African trajectories of improved well-being, and its impact on people and resources
# Mediating identities of Africans in Africa and beyond
# Constellations of Governance in Africa: historical and contemporary studies
# Africa’s connections to the World: Africa negotiating an increasingly multi-polar world
-->
==Library==
[[Image:ASCLeiden3.JPG|thumb|Library]]
The centre's library consists of some 100,000 books and about 2,000 journals (including electronic journals), government reports, brochures, [[List of newspapers in Africa|African newspapers]] and about 2,500 documentaries and feature films on video and DVD. The centre has also developed a web service, ''Connecting-Africa'', with links to more than 94,000 online articles about Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/collection|title=Collection|website=African Studies Centre Leiden|access-date=26 June 2024}}</ref> The library also has a collection of archival material including archives of African government publications and a number of personal archives.<ref name=":0" />
==History==
The centre was founded on 12 August 1947 as the academic division of an Afrika Instituut, which initially also had an economic section, later spun off as the [[Netherlands-African Business Council]]. Over the years, many well-known Dutch Africanists have worked at the African Studies Centre, including the poet Vernie February, the activist Klaas de Jonge,<ref>
{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/ASC-community/members/klaas-de-jonge|title=Klaas de Jonge|website=African Studies Centre Leiden|access-date=13 June 2016}}</ref> the sociologist Robert Buijtenhuijs and the law professor and film director [[Emile van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal]]. Legal scholar [[Johan Frederik Holleman|Hans Holleman]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/archives|title=Archives|website=African Studies Centre, Leiden|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref><ref>
{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/about-ascl|title=About the ASCL|website=African Studies Centre Leiden|access-date=13 June 2016}}</ref> served as a director from 1963 to 1969. [[Barbara Harrell-Bond]] worked at the centre in the 1970s, as did [[Deborah Fahy Bryceson|Deborah Bryceson]] in the 1990s. [[Kofi Abrefa Busia]], who later became prime minister of [[Ghana]] (1969-1972), worked at the African Studies Centre between 1959 and 1962. Former director [[Stephen Ellis (historian)|Stephen Ellis]] was [[editor in chief]] of ''[[Africa Confidential]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.africa-confidential.com/history-of-africa-confidential|title=History of Africa Confidential|website=Africa Confidential|access-date=13 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/history-african-studies-centre-leiden-habari-no-1-2012|title=History of the African Studies Centre|website=African Studies Centre Leiden|access-date=13 June 2016}}</ref> [[Petrus Johannes Idenburg]], lector of African constitutional law at Leiden University, was one of the founders of the centre.
The centre was one of the founders of [[AEGIS (African Studies)|AEGIS]], a network of African Studies Centres in Europe that was set up in 1991 to build upon the resources and research potential available within Africanist institutions in Europe.
As of 1 January 2016, the African Studies Centre is a part of Leiden University.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mareonline.nl/archive/2015/12/10/universiteit-lijft-afrika-studiecentrum-in|title=Universiteit lijft Afrika-Studiecentrum In|website=Leidse Universitair Weekblad: Mare|access-date=13 June 2016 |lang=Dutch}}</ref> On 1 April 2021, Marleen Dekker became the new director of the ASC replacing Jan Bart Gewald who had been director since 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/organization|title=Organization|website=African Studies Centre, Leiden}}</ref>
==Publications==
[[File:ASCLeiden7.JPG|thumb|Publications of the ASC]]
The centre publishes extensively, sometimes in cooperation with publishers such as [[Brill Publishers]] in Leiden. ASC publications include:
* ''[[Africa Yearbook]]'' ({{ISSN|1871-2525}})
* ''[[African studies abstracts online]]'' ({{ISSN|1570-937X}})
* ''Kroniek van Afrika'' (Chronicles of Africa, 1961-1975, {{ISSN|0023-4893}})
==Wellknown persons formerly connected ==
Many Dutch Africanists are or have been connected to the [[African Studies Centre]], like the poet Vernie February, de sociologist and later anti-[[apartheid]]sactivist [[Klaas de Jonge]], de bestuursambtenaar Lucien Adam, the antropologist [[Bonno Thoden van Velzen]], de sociologist Robert Buijtenhuijs, professor [[Emile van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal]], the antropologist Wouter van Beek, and historica, researcher and author Anne-Lot Hoek. Between 1959 en 1962 was [[Kofi Abrefa Busia]], de later prime minister of [[Ghana]], a researcher at ASC. In the eighties, former director-Stephen Ellis was chief editor of ''Africa Confidential''.<ref>[[w:en:Africa Confidential|Africa Confidential, artikel op de Engelstalige wikipedia]]</ref> Board members in the first years were prof.mr. Frederik Mari baron van Asbeck, mr. Karel Paul van der Mandele en mr. Petrus Johannes Idenburg.
==References==
* ''A window on Africa. African Studies Centre Leiden's 75th anniversary celebration''. Ed. by Fenneken Veldkamp & Germa Seuren. Leiden, 2024. ISBN 978-90-5448-202-4. ([https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3716221 online edition])
* {{Cite Q|Q55759295}}
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
{{commons category|African Studies Centre Leiden}}
{{Scholia|publisher}}
* {{Official website|http://www.ascleiden.nl}}
* [http://www.connecting-africa.net Connecting-Africa (online articles)]
* [http://www.africabib.org AfricaBib (bibliographic database)]
* [http://www.aegis-eu.org AEGIS (network of African studies centres in Europe)]
* [http://hdl.handle.net/1887/520 Kroniek van Afrika, online access]
{{Leiden University}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1947 establishments in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Academic libraries in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies]]
[[Category:African studies]]
[[Category:Archives in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Leiden University]]
[[Category:Research institutes in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Research institutes established in 1947]]
[[Category:20th-century establishments in the Netherlands]]