The research master's in African Studies at Leiden University is unique in continental Europe for the interdisciplinary range of subjects offered and the long-term fieldwork in Africa.

Traditional leaders in many African countries have regained some of their former powers. Politicians and companies in some of these countries manage to gain access to valuable land via these leaders, at the cost of the local population. This is the message of Professor of Law, Administration and Development…

Both on a personal and institutional level, the staff of Leiden CADS collaborates with:

Ironies of Solidarity is an ethnographic study of how financial products and services affect inequalities and conflicts in South Africa.

The research provides insight into disease behavior in both rural and semi-urban areas in Serengeti in Tanzania.

To what end and how does Plautus constantly underline the Helleni(sti)c provenance of his art? How does this aspect relate the author’s originality?

NIMAR is the Netherlands expertise centre for Moroccan Studies. Starting 2016, NIMAR is a part of the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University. NIMAR organises lectures, facilitates research and actively adds to the knowledge of Moroccan languages, cultures and society in The Netherlands.

Lecture, Histories Connected: Work-in-Progress

Jessica Vance Roitman and Wouter Veenendaal, researchers at the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, investigate the origins, development, and consolidation of political oligarchy in the Caribbean island nation of St. Maarten.

Leiden University seeks to bring knowledge, academic top talents, and resources from Leiden and Latin America and the Caribbean together in mutually beneficial joint research projects that are content-driven, based on existing excellent research. Connecting research and researchers.

An overview of the courses

Lecture, Worlds to Discover: Manuscripts from the Muslim World

In the African Studies BA programme you will obtain in-depth knowledge about Africa and the specific theme of your choice. At the same time, you will develop valuable academic and digital competences, as well as personal skills.

Lecture, Descriptive Linguistics Seminars

On young Muslims seeking to understand their place and make their way in a transformed world.

ACPA alumnus Budhaditya Chattopadhyay explores sound practices across South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America in his new publication 'Sound Practices in the Global South: Co-listening to Resounding Plurilogues'.

Jan Erk, political scientist at Leiden University, has been selected as the 2016-2017 Smuts Memorial Fellow at the University of Cambridge. During his residency at the renowned British academy, he will work on his research project ‘The Enduring Impact of Africa’s extinct kingdoms and invisible chief…

Join-in courses zijn MA-cursussen over middeleeuwse onderwerpen gegeven binnen vastgestelde MA-programma's van de zes deelnemende universiteiten van de Onderzoekschool. Op aanvraag zijn deze vakken toegankelijk voor studenten van andere (Nederlandse) universiteiten. De cursusbelasting en het aantal…

In the eighties the Umhlatuzana rock shelter in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, was excavated. Results from this excavation led to an understanding when the Later Stone Age started in this area. This archaeological period is often associated with the structural presence of modern human behavior. Now a…

How to understand the simultaneously dis- and reappearance of letters in contemporary culture, and how does this Neo-Epistolarity relate to media-technological change?

During the one-year master’s programme in Colonial and Global History you will learn about the importance of a comparative perspective for understanding transnational processes such as imperialism, colonialism, islamisation, modernisation and globalisation.

During the Europe 1000-1800 programme you will learn from inspired academics. Find out more about the programme below.

The basic program comprises a total of twelve courses organized by the Research School, that have been purpose-developed for training and support of PhD students and Research MA students who specialize in Medieval Studies (history, art history, and literary history, in particular).

On October 20 and 21, 2016, Leiden University will host an international conference under the title

Leiden University has signed a substantial number of Memoranda of Understanding with institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

This is the 2017 paperback release of William Michael Schmidli's The Fate of Freedom Elsewhere, which won the 2013 Foreign Affairs Magazine Best Book of the Year.

When you apply for admission, you’ll be asked to submit several documents.

The pre-master's is a bridging programme for students who have applied for the MA Latin American Studies but who, according to the Board of Admissions, still have deficiencies in their educational background. Once you have completed the pre-master’s programme, you will be admitted to the Master’s pr…

Event

Reading & Panel Discussion

Africa is rising and increasingly seen as a potential market by economic actors from Africa and the rest of the world. What is the interrelationship between governance, entrepreneurship and inclusive development?

How did African actors engage with the idea of Eurafrica?

This 25th volume in the series 'Islam in Africa', edited by Annachiara Raia, is a pioneering collection of poetry by the outstanding Kenyan poet, intellectual and imam Ustadh Mahmmoud Mau (born 1952) from Lamu island, once an Indian Ocean hub, now on the edge of the nation state.

This project aims at describing the Khoisan languages !Ora (Korana/Griqua) and !Ui of South Africa.

Technological advances have an impact on our daily lives. They have also been employed by governments to manage border security, especially at controversial border crossings. Fences, heat sensors, heat cameras, drones and other hi-tech equipment that are currently being tested collectively produce a…

Minims are letters that are made up of short, vertical pen strokes, such as 'm', 'i', 'n' and 'u'. In Gothic script, there is often little distinction between letters composed of minims. Assistant professor of medieval literature Krista Murchison has written an article in History Today on the hidden…

On 23 February 2011, Hans de Iongh gave a Skype lecture for a group of 15 students of the Duke University of North Carolina, USA on the invitation of Dr Andrew Jacobson.

Studying Africa’s history, cultures and languages in this programme, will give you an insight in other aspects of Africa as well, including economics, politics and international relations. In the second year, you will be able to specialise in one or more of our themes, tailoring the programme to your…

Honduras recently severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 82 years. In doing so, the country is following the trend of other Central American countries that have turned their backs on the Asian island in recent years. Why are these countries making this choice now and what does it mean for Taiwan's…

This project focuses on a striking parallelism between two macro-groups of languages: southern Italian dialects and the so-called split-ergative languages, like Basque, Georgian, Dyirbal, Hindi/Urdu.

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a significant rise in terrorist acts and radicalized youth since the appearance of Boko Haram in 2009 and the fall of Libya in 2012. This book investigates the deeper layers of radicalization in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is situated in a larger global tendency.

Get the most out of your studies at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

Mission: The department of Industrial Ecology is dealing with research into the development of tools for decision making on sustainable production and consumption.

The 'Leids Papyrologisch Instituut' is the only Dutch institute that studies both Greek (and Latin) and Demotic and Abnormal-Hieratic papyri. The members of our staff publish texts from collections all over the world, including our own collection.

In this dissertation Itandehui Jansen examines the ‘Voice’ of the filmmaker from a political and aesthetic perspective.

The Leiden Jewish Studies Association awarded the inaugural “Best Thesis in Jewish Studies” in December 2023.