Events
On this page, you can find all upcoming events. We usually plan 1 month ahead, so do not worry if you do not see any events down the line! Most events are only accessible to members or Rafikis. If an event is open to the general public, like the movie nights, this is stated clearly in the description of the event.
We hope to see you soon!
Lisbon Trip (TraCo)
Mugusa goes to Lisbon from the 15th until the 19th of January 2024!
Kunsthal Kade: Africa Supernova
We will visit the exhibition Africa Supernova at Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort.
Bia Baridi? An fun evening with Mugusa.
Join us at a local pub and get to know your fellow Mugusas!
African Movie Night: Mama Colonel
This AFN, we will screen the Congolese documentary Mama Colonel (2017)
Non-Mugusa: Mama Africa Leiden
Mama Africa is coming back to Leiden! That will be a party!
Mama Africa is a dance party for anyone with a connection to Africa. Expect a mix of the best Afrobeats. Azonto, Kuduro, Coupé Décalé, Ndombolo & more African vibes!
ASCL Seminar: Animals in Africa - Human-animal relationships through the lenses of decoloniality and ubuntu
Despite cultural differences and socio-economic disparities, (other) animals, particularly those kept as companions are becoming increasingly significant within a diversity of South African communities. Pet-keeping cuts across all socio-economic categories and public opinion regarding the status of animals in general is currently a subject of contestation and debate. This has both legislative and policy implications.
This presentation by Dr Sharyn Spicer (University of the Western Cape) briefly traces local ‘animal’ history to demonstrate how other animal species have been involved in several pivotal moments in our past and present. It uses a social justice lens, the concept of intersectionality combined with African philosophical insights and cosmologies to shed light on human-animal relationships and to develop contextually appropriate and culturally competent animal welfare interventions. The overall aim of this presentation is to imagine and ultimately put into practice a decolonial animal future. By looking inward and going beyond western knowledge and insights from the Global north, new understandings and actions that draw on indigenous knowledges, are able to take place. Underlying the indigenous concept of ubuntu is the ethic of reciprocity, interdependence and compassion, which can be extended to other living beings so that everything is seen as connected. The intrinsic value of other animals, who are viewed as community members or kin is recognised.
Date, time and location
02 November 2023
16.00 - 17.30
Pieter de la Courtgebouw / Faculty of Social Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden
Room 0.B13
Please register via: https://www.ascleiden.nl/node/12346/register
ASCL Seminar: Seeing Development Approaches and Narratives from the African Periphery, 1979-2023
This lecture by Prof. Peter Little (Emory University) addresses the litany of different development approaches from the perspectives of marginal populations and geographies in rural Africa. Based on the author’s long-term research in eastern Africa, it uses the dual lenses of pastoralist communities and drylands to demonstrate how large-scale development paradigms interact and, in some cases, are shaped by local social and political dynamics. In doing so, the lecture argues that the periphery can be central to understandings of sustainable development and resilience. Over a period of several decades multiple development paradigms based on shared narratives and assumed understandings have been imposed in these regions both by international donor agencies and African governments, leading to contradictory and often unexpected outcomes. It shows how different interventions are interpreted and often shaped by local agency and politics, resulting in both negative and, in some cases, positive development results. The presentation concludes that in this contemporary period of increased global uncertainty, especially related to climate variability, much can be learned from the experiences of the periphery and its resilient populations and ecologies.
Date, time and location
05 October 2023
16.00 - 17.30
Pieter de la Courtgebouw / Faculty of Social Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden
Room 0.B13
Please register via https://www.ascleiden.nl/node/12404/register
NVAS Africa Day
You are very welcome at the NVAS Africa Day on Saturday 30 September 2023 in Kargadoor, Utrecht. NVAS is the Netherlands Association of African Studies. The day is organised around the theme of 'Living Environments: African Anthropocenes and Climate Justice'.
Living Environments: African Anthropocenes and Climate Justice
We live in times of unprecedented environmental change. Scholars have therefore begun to refer to our geological time as ‘the Anthropocene’, reflecting that many of these changes can be traced back to human actions and interventions. Our way of life is affecting not just landscapes, lives and livelihoods, but all flora and fauna on the planet, leading David Wallace-Wells to announce in his book The Uninhabitable Earth (2020) that ‘it is worse, much worse, than you think.’ Calling out world leaders’ lack of tangible action on the topic of climate change, activist Greta Thunberg asked at a United Nations meeting in 2019: ‘How dare you?!’ And yet since 2019 the climatic conditions worldwide have worsened further.
Where at some stage we thought the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to some sort of global reset towards more sustainable ways of living, this has not been the case. In fact, we seem to be back and already beyond where we left off before COVID-19, taking the plunder of the planet to new heights. Extreme weather events continue to increase in force and countries across the world have seen their reliance on fossil fuels for energy provision deepened by the war in Ukraine. In particular, African countries are bearing the brunt of the impacts and consequences of the climate change crisis, despite the fact that they have contributed least to causing it. At the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2022, a ‘Loss & Damage Fund for Vulnerable Countries’ was created, but which sentient stakeholders in our shared living environments will ultimately come to benefit from this, remains to be seen.
We will host a broad range of speakers, roundtables and even Climate Poets, who will discuss everyday experiences of climate change on the African continent.
Programme
9.30-10.00: Arrival with coffee/tea
10.00-10.10: Welcome and introduction
10.10-10.30: Climate Poet Saskia Stehouwer c.s.
10.30-11.00: Human Beyonds: Afropean Wa/onderings around the Anthropocene, by research master student Aude Sathoud
11.00-11.15: Coffee/ Tea
11.15-12.45: Plenary paper session, four papers:
• Bert van Pinxteren, guest researcher at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics: ‘Achille Mbembe and the Anthropocene – some personal and philosophical reflections’
• Adriaan Lucassen, Lovis Bos, Simon Vera & Sara de Wit, Leiden University: ‘Anthropocene Africana: representing missing voices through multi-modal storytelling’
• Miriam Waltz, Leiden University: ‘Children of Maize: Modernity, Mutations and Monsters in the Western Kenyan Landscape’
• Branwyn Poleykett, Ismael Thiam & Ndiaga Sall, University of Amsterdam, Universite Gaston Berger, Enda Sante: ‘Coproducing planetary diets from Dakar: Anthropocene eating futures beyond the ‘global ration’
12.45-1.30: Ethiopian lunch
13.00 – 13.30: NVAS Members' Meeting
13.30-14.30: Round Table with Theresa Atutu, Tolithemba Ndaba and Iva Pesa: ‘Resource Extraction, Pollution and Protest’
14.30-15.00: Climate Poet Saskia Stehouwer c.s.
15.00-15.30: Coffee/ Tea
15.30-17.00: Plenary paper session four papers:
• Helena Driessen, Wageningen University: ‘Resource Extraction in Green Transitions: Constriction and Resistance along the Rare Earth Metals Value Chain in Southern Africa’
• Anais Menard, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology: ‘Coastal environments at risk: depredation and eco-insecurity in Sierra Leone’
• Gerson Brandao, independent scholar: ‘How are The Netherlands and Germany bringing mining companies to the discussions’ table on sustainable development and what challenges lie ahead in the DR Congo?’
• Evelien Storme, HIVA, KU Leuven: ‘Reefs as multispecies ruins: abalone and livelihood making in South Africa’
17.00-18.00: Drinks
Registration
Please register by sending an e-mail to nvasconf@asc.leidenuniv.nl.
Free entrance for NVAS members. Non-members pay € 15,- (or € 10,- for 65+ / € 5,- for (PhD) students) to join the NVAS as well as the event.
Date, time and location
30 September 2023
Kargadoor, Oudegracht 36, Utrecht.
Introduction Weekend for New Members
On the 16th and 17th of September, Mugusa will organise an introduction weekend for our new members and current members who want to meet new members. The weekend will consist of two days of activities, without an overnight stay. The details of the weekend, including the costs (no more than 50 euros) will be communicated at a later date.
Please fill out the form in the member area to sign up for the introduction weekend!
African Film Night - The Train of Salt and Sugar
On the 14th of September, The Train of Salt and Sugar (2016), will be shown at the monthly African Film Night at the Pieter de la Court Building SC01.
Mozambique is in the midst of a civil war. A single train connects Nampula to Malawi. No civilians are allowed, yet hundreds risk their lives through 700km of sabotaged tracks. Salomão and Taiar are two soldiers who don’t get along. Rosa is a young nurse on her way to her first job, who soon becomes an object of desire. Mariamu, her close friend, only hopes to trade salt for sugar. Amongst bullets and laughter, life goes on and stories unfold as the train advances under attack, ever so slowly, towards the next stop.
Karibuni! - Welcome Drinks
OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC
On the 28th, from 20:00-01:00, Mugusa will have its first ‘borrel’ at Café de Keyzer to celebrate the establishment of the association.
African Film Night - Un Homme Qui Crie
Cost = FREE
On the 11th of May, the Chadian movie Un Homme Qui Crie (2010) will be showed at the monthly African Film Night. Click for more info.
Chatgyptism: Youth and the seduction of decoloniality
Cost = FREE
On the 10th of May, Dr. Divine Fuh from the University of Cape Town will provide a lecture about Chatgyptism and the seduction of decoloniality amongst young people.
Have you ever wondered why there is a growing push for decolonization in universities around the world? What is driving this movement, particularly among young people, and what can it achieve? Join us for an illuminating lecture on the birth of the Rhodes Must Fall (#RMF) movement at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2015, and the global movement it sparked..