To foster interfaculty collaborations and explore common ground for working interdisciplinary on health-related themes in Leiden and beyond, the Leiden University Medical Anthropology Network has been set up.

How do insurance products transform intimate and personal relations? What are the consequences of the classifications that insurance companies use and how do these affect solidarity, morality and inequality?

On February 21st, Maria Vasile, one of the PhD students of the project participated to several events organized in Milan by the University of Milano-Bicocca for the celebration of the World Anthropology Day.

Every year a photographer portrays Leiden as Stadsfotograaf (City Photographer) of the Leidsch Dagblad. This year it is the honor to Leonie van der Helm, an alumna of cultural anthropology. Over the next 52 weeks, Van der Helm will visualize the meaning of 'home'.

The Secret Life of Art Works. Exploring the Boundaries between Art and Life is the first collection of essays to present case studies from the visual arts, architecture, sculpture and numismatics, and to engage critically with theoretical perspectives from art history, psychology, aesthetics and ant…

Knowledge of Muslim societies is essential to function in a globalised world and to fully understand our own Dutch society. Leiden researchers explore the languages, cultures, religions, legal systems and history of Muslim societies and in this way contribute to a centuries-old tradition.

Writing a story from the perspective of a Rwandan girl set in Africa is not an easy task. Alumna Cultural Anthropology Ruth Erica did it. Her debut novel The tree with the bitter leaves, in which an important supporting role is played by a student of cultural anthropology, appeared in August 2020.

In this project we ask: how does pollution manifest as part of different practices, both socially and materially.

This programme starts from the idea that cultural discourse is one of the main engines of intellectual history and the history of ideas.

Within Una Europa, academic collaboration takes place in interdisciplinary Self Steering Committees (SSCs)

The Mid Upper Palaeolithic of Eurasia 30,000 - 20,000 BP

LUCIS publishes two peer-reviewed book series, “Leiden Studies in Islam and Society” (Brill) and “Debates on Islam and Society” (Leiden University Press).

Punching Back is a detailed ethnographic study that demonstrates that young Muslim women who kickbox develop agentive selves by challenging gender norms, challenging expectations, and living out their religious subjectivities.

Part of ‘Moralising Misfortune: A Comparative Anthropology of Commercial Insurance’, an ERC Consolidator project of Erik Bähre.

LUCIS is directed by Nathal Dessing, who is advised by a steering committee.

Part of ‘Moralising Misfortune: A comparative anthropology of commercial insurance’, an ERC Consolidator project of Erik Bähre.

The new student members of the Programme Committee (OLC) are Pablo Pandocchi, Benjamin Maldonado, Emily Berube-Palsboll and Nico Lesenfants Ramos.

Emily Gdula, Liselotta Jahnke, Jason Irwin and Josephine Hercules are the newly appointed student representatives on the Programme Committee (OLC). This committee provides advice to the Executive Board and the Faculty Board of CADS on various educational issues, including the development of Course and…

Filipino anthropologists Andrea Malaya M. Ragragio and Myfel D. Paluga look back at the groundbreaking Netflix show Trese and what it missed about the stories of Indigenous peoples. They published the article 'What Netflix Got Wrong About Indigenous Storytelling' in the digital Anthropology magazine…

Van Vollenhoven Lecture 2022 / LUCIS Keynote

Lecture, Research Seminar

The CADS Asia Research Cluster extends the legacy of the Institute’s Asia focus into the future, as an important hub in international networks on the study of Asia and through active engagement with colleagues in Asia. Within the Institute the Asia Research Cluster offers a platform for anthropologists…

The d12n Research Cluster provides a space for inquiry and intervention into the ongoing digit(al)isation of culture, society, and scholarship. The research cluster aims to link CADS Institute researchers to each other as well as to experts and praticioners from around the world as we combine thinking…

Research on the process and construction of news stories about human rights issues in Latin American newspapers.

On 1 June 2022, Bruno Braak defended his thesis entitled 'Overcoming ruptures: Zande identity, governance, and tradition during cycles of war and displacement in South Sudan and Uganda (2014-2019).' The doctoral research was supervised by Prof.dr. J.M. Otto, Dr.ir. C.I.M. Jacobs, and Dr. C. Leonardi…

Part of ‘Moralising Misfortune: A Comparative Anthropology of Commercial Insurance’, an ERC Consolidator project of Erik Bähre.

Southeast Asia is a term to denote a collection of at present eleven nation-states with an enormous diversity in languages, cultures and religions. Muslims can both take a majority and a minority position.

Irna Hofman defended her thesis on 10 January 2019.

Part of ‘Moralising Misfortune: A Comparative Anthropology of Commercial Insurance’, an ERC Consolidator project of Erik Bähre.

LUCIS affiliated members are researchers outside Leiden University who are actively involved in the study of Islam and/or Muslim societies and who regularly participate in LUCIS activities. LUCIS affiliate membership offers possibilities to cooperate with LUCIS as well as network opportunities. Contact…

Wednesday 23 of February the NESA Netherlands School of Anthropology) has been officially launched with the first Masterclass by Prof. Dr. Marja Spierenburg (Leiden University) and Dr. Anke Tonnaer (Radboud University). The NESA is a graduate program for PhD candidates of the five Dutch universities…

This conference explored the various ways in which anthropologists at the Leiden Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology engage with global vulnerabilities and social resilience through their ethnographic research and representation. All staff and students were invited to participate…

In honour of Prof. Dr. Gerard Persoon’s and Prof. dr. Ton Dietz’ work and on the occasion of their retirement from Leiden University, Ton Dietz’ and Gerard Persoon’s portraits have been added to the ‘Hall of Fame’ of the Insitute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.

The ERC consolidator project

The Scientific Commission of the Swiss Anthropological Association (SSE-SEG-SAA) convenes once a year a major conference around thematic panels. This year, the annual meeting of the SSE-SEG-SAA addressed the topic of “norms and alternatives”. Prof. dr. Cristina Grasseni and lecturer Janine Prins participated…

This ethnographic research is a joint project with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, and KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. It aims to understand the experiences of social inclusion and exclusion of female migrants…

On this page you will find resources developed by the project team, such as bibliographies, reading lists, template case-studies as well as the team's training and seminar activities.