5 weeks on Monday Evening. It's time for a new film course series! This series focuses on the interaction between processes of decolonisation and cinema. Since the revolutionary 1960's, film directors have increasingly seen film as a medium that can play a role in the process of decolonisation, as well as a medium that still has to be decolonised itself. Dreamsof independence and self-determination made cinema more militant and radical, turning it away from Hollywood and its perpetual dreamscape. In short: making films with a rock in one hand, and a camera in the other, as the authors of the radical manifesto "Towards a Third Cinema" (1969) wrote. will draw on an exciting mix of film theory, analysis and history, and of course a wide variety of unforgettable clips from the film history of the country in question. In collaboration with Lumière Cinema. It is, next to registration for the whole series (see link in side box), also possible to register for individual lectures (see links behind lectures).

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The closure of international borders is among the most contentious political issues of our time. Although this is a matter of global concern, Africa in particular offers a wealth of fresh empirical material on how and why borders are closed. This lecture by Hugh Lamarque (The University of Edinburgh) offers empirical and theoretical contributions, drawing on key examples from East Africa and the Great Lakes Region to illustrate some of the political pressures around closing borders, some of the practical challenges, and to outline an analytical framework focused on the concept of cross-border asymmetry. Despite a rapidly growing literature on borderlands in Africa, a systematic analytical framework for this kind of event has yet to be developed. This is not surprising. Border closure is a more intangible subject than it may appear. In most cases, the closure is partial, both with regard to the sections of the border affected, and also the sections of society prohibited from crossing it. The rival interests involved mean that events are often poorly documented and publicly disputed. The surge of closures and reopenings that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound and enduring consequences: closures have disrupted regional trade, collapsed survival economies of local traders, divided families, incentivised smuggling, and uprooted refugees. But many of these events predated the virus, and the paper looks beyond public health concerns to other motivations in history. It will also look to the future, as the continent adapts to its recent experiences. Speaker: Dr Hugh Lamarque (The University of Edinburgh). Click here to register

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PhD candidate: NA (Nuhu Adeiza) Ismail MSc, Promotor: prof.dr. VR (Rene) van der Duim. External copromotor: dr. A. Aceska & dr. E. Adu-Ampong. My PhD research is on the governance of informal settlements in Abuja, Nigeria. The research provides deeper insights on how and why land ownership rights and tenure security in Abuja’s informal settlements are so controversial and remain unresolved for over 45 years since the creation of Abuja as the new capital city of Nigeria in 1976. Findings from this study show how the complexities around Abuja’s informal settlements are collectively produced by both state and non-state actors. The study also provides insights into why the challenges and contentions around informal settlements in many African cities, particularly around land rights and tenure security, have persisted for so long without any foreseeable resolutions. Theoretically, the study contributes to the understanding of governance, urban informality, and the state from a global south perspective. In terms of application, the insights on the complexities around Abuja land dynamics are handy for policy makers, planners, land investors, NGOs, and stakeholders that are interested in African cities.

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Sprekers: Ton Dietz & Akinyinka Akinyoade. Serie: Het continent Afrika in 2023. Deze lezing vindt plaats in het kader van het Studium Generale programma Het continent Afrika in 2023. In deze openingslezing gaan we in op de migratiegeschiedenis van Afrika, en dan vooral op de laatste vijftig jaar. We zullen ook proberen de nabije toekomst te voorspellen. Migratie kan niet worden begrepen zonder te kijken naar bredere demografische, politieke, sociale en economische ontwikkelingen, dus de lezing zal niet beperkt blijven tot statistieken, maar zal proberen uit te leggen.
This lecture will be held partly in Dutch, and partly in English.

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Mw. E.L. van der Linden promoveert op het proefschrift: 'Epidemiology and epigenetics of cardiovascular risk in African migrants'. Promotoren zijn prof. dr. C.O. Agyemang en prof. dr. B.J.H. van den Born. Copromotor is dr. P. Henneman.

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Sprekers: Mayke Kaag & Gerard van de Bruinhorst,. Serie: Het continent Afrika in 2023. Deze lezing vindt plaats in het kader van het Studium Generale programma Het continent Afrika in 2023. In de lezing gaan we dieper in op de rijkdom en dynamische aard van de islam in Afrika. We onderzoeken hoe deze wordt gevormd door zowel lokale verscheidenheid als door interactie met de rest van de islamitische wereld. Na een algemene inleiding bespreken we de zoektocht naar lokale vertalingen van de Koran in Oost-Afrika. Deze casus geeft extra stof tot nadenken over hoe mensen leven met een islam die is aangepast aan de lokale context maar ook in verbinding staat met de rest van de Ummah (gemeenschap van gelovigen).

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Promovendus: S. Heemelaar. Promotor(en): Prof.dr. J.M.M. van Lith, Prof.dr. J. Stekelenburg, dr. T.H. van den Akker

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This event will be held physically in Leiden. For registrees who cannot travel to Leiden a link to an online platform will be sent one day before the start of the event. In Niger, the world’s least educated nation, girls are described as both vulnerable beings in need of protection and subjects imbued with unique potential, including the capacity to transform their country’s fortunes. To protect girls from harmful practices, such as early marriage, and, at the same time, unlock their unique capacities, parents must send daughters to school, rights activists, celebrities, and other advocates of girls’ education proclaim. While nationwide discussions highlight how boko (Western education in Hausa) has become a lightning rod for Muslim activists’ discontent with foreign intervention, adolescent schoolgirls parrot the slogans coined by non-governmental organisations and corporate responsibility projects to highlight the economic benefits of investing in girls. They cast themselves citizens of the future who, once empowered by education, will care for families, jumpstart local economies, and pull Niger out of poverty. This seminar traces a major contradiction in the vision of progressive futures peddled by development through its instrumentalisation of education in Niger: on the one hand, girls are treated as ideal neoliberal models of self-reliance and self-making; on the other, they must sacrifice themselves for the common good. Speaker: Prof. Adeline Masquelier (Tulane University, USA). Click here to register for this event

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