The face of Africa

This volume is a homage to Ton Dietz who served as Director of the African Studies Centre, Leiden, from May 2010 to September 2017 and as Professor of the Study of African Development, at Leiden University. Colleagues and former colleagues at the African Studies Centre want to show their appreciation for him, both as a director and as a scholar – and even as a stamp collector – by  zooming in on the topics he has engaged in during his long career.

As Ton Dietz has a wide and encompassing interest in Africa, so the 19 essays in this volume range wide and address three broad themes, which the editors (Wouter van Beek, Jos Damen & Dick Foeken) have suggested to the contributors: coping with Africa, the relation between people and environment, and development. The latter issue forms the topic of his inaugural address at Leiden University on 14 January 2011, entitled ‘Silverlining Africa’.

Ton Dietz studied human geography in Nijmegen (1969-1976), and in 1987 at the University of Amsterdam defended his PhD based on fieldwork among the Pokot of Kenya; in 1995 he was appointed Professor of Human Geography at the same University of Amsterdam. From 2002 until 2007 he was a (part-time) Professor of Social Sciences at Utrecht University and the Scientific Director of CERES, the Research School for Resource Studies for Development. He was the Scientific Director of AMIDSt, Amsterdam Research Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies in 2008 and 2009.