Jan-Bart Gewald new director of Leiden's African Studies Centre
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.
Jan-Bart Gewald grew up in Africa. He obtained his bachelor's in Political Studies and African History at Rhodes University in South Africa in 1986. He took a Master's in History at Leiden University in 1990 and obtained his PhD, also in Leiden, in 1996.
Gewald became a researcher at the African Studies Centre in 2003 and Professor of the History of Southern Africa at the Institute of History at Leiden University in 2013. He was appointed chairman of the researchers at the African Studies Centre in 2016, the year in which the African Studies Centre became an interfaculty institute of Leiden University. Since 1 April 2017 his teaching remit has changed to the History of Africa.
Professor Dietz will give his farewell lecture on 25 September 2017, to which you are cordially invited. On 9 October three newly appointed African Studies Centre Leiden professors will give a short introduction: Prof. Chibuike Uche, Prof. Rijk van Dijk and Prof. Jan Abbink. On the same day ASCL researcher Dr Marleen Dekker will give her inaugural lecture as Professor of Inclusive Development in Africa. Venue: Academy Building, Rapenburg 73, Leiden.