The Sharia, the Islamic legal system, pays greater attention to ethics than may have been thought. This was clear at the annual conference of the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS). Academics from throughout the world considered the question of how modern Islamic law…

This page features an overview of relevant lectures, publications and conference papers.

To be eligible for Policy in Practice at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

To be eligible for Global Ethnography at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

CADS researchers give methodology their own unique signature through two parallel engagements: (a) teaching and researching the full range of social science methods, from audio-visual engagements, through global ethnography, to statistical analysis; and (b) interrogating these multiple modalities employing…

BSc Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology is a bachelor’s programme with a compulsory matching module.

To get in touch with the 'Food citizens?' project, you can write us an email.

To get in touch with the 'Food citizens?' project, you can write us an email.

To get in touch, you can write us an email.

On this page you find useful links to cooperating universities, Dutch institutes and other interesting links to information related to Arabic & Islamic studies, Egyptian Archaeology, and learning Dutch.

The chief aim of this study is to explore how classical Persian poetry and the Persian mysticism that is interwoven with the poetry have been used in the new politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially during the Iran-Iraq war.

On 14 and 15 November, the LUCIS Annual Conference takes place in Leiden. Scholars from diverse backgrounds will come together to share their research on all branches of Shiʿi Islam.

The Faculties of Leiden University have developed several themes for research cooperation between Leiden University and its Indonesian partners.

Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies analyses the role of religion in past and present understandings of Asia.

Within the time frame of one year, you will take five months of courses, do a ten-weeks research Embedded Research Project in Africa or in an Africa-related setting elsewhere, and write your MA thesis. Learn the newest insights from established researchers.

Eschatology played a central role in both politics and society throughout the early modern period. It inspired people to strive for social and political change, including sometimes by violent means, and prompted in return strong reactions against their religious activism.

Are you a student from Indonesia, planning to study in Leiden?

The NVIC offers academic courses in Arabic & Islamic studies and in the study of Ancient Egypt, in the framework of study programmes at the Dutch and Flemish universities that support the institute. NVIC also puts its teaching experience at the disposal of companies, embassies, international organisations…

Hekmat Dirbas defended his thesis on 14 February 2017

The World of a Mid-Eighth-Century Egyptian Official

The master's specialisation in Visual Ethnography emphasises a strongly hands-on, empirical approach, which requires students to play an active role in mastering the audiovisual toolbox.

The choices you make during your bachelor's programme are crucial for your future career. Our Anthropology graduates work in fields varying from the development sector to policy work and heritage institutions.

To be eligible for Visual Ethnography at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Peter Webb is one of the four young Leiden Humanities researchers to receive a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Webb will use the funding for his project EPIC PASTS: PRE-ISLAM THROUGH MUSLIM EYES, to reevaluate the ways in which Muslims in early Islam remembered…

Below you can find an overview of our network.

This dissertation addresses the different use of the same philosophical model: immanent teleology. In this work Aristotle, the founder of the study of final causes, is put in relation with the modern French evolutionary thinker Henri Bergson, the philosopher of time. The dissertation tackles the two…

Overview of Leiden publications on Central Asia. For additional publications dedicated to a single country, please go to individual pages of the researchers, which you can access through the Researchers page.

LIAS staff has a strong track record in supervising internationally competitive PhD research in Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, and the study of religion. Our graduates go on to work in a range of professional fields, academic and other. This page provides information for prospective and current…

Article by Annemarie Samuels in History and Anthropology

Who is Economic Man? Every economic paradigm presupposes an anthropology, a theory of human nature. This project explores the anthropologies presupposed and produced by ancient Greek economic texts, and the specific knowledge forms that shape these anthropologies.

This 3-year EU Erasmus+ co-funded project focuses on the strengthening and improvement of teaching qualitative research methods across a range of disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Bhutan.

The Institute CADS adheres to and teaches an approach to research ethics and integrity that emphasizes the processual nature of informed consent, situational ethics, and the indispensability of continually updating the ethical tradition in international anthropology in all the work of its researchers…

What inspires scholars who study the history, cultures, religions and languages of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia? LUCIS interviewed scholars about their work and research in the video project “Passion in Profession”. The videos are available online now.

The Leiden University Medical Anthropology Network (LUMAN) brings medical anthropologists together with the aim of fostering interfaculty collaborations and creating common ground for working interdisciplinary on health-related themes in Leiden and beyond.

The ERC Consolidator project Food Citizens? Collective food procurement in European cities: solidarity and diversity, skills and scale (2017-2022) organizes Conference Friday 4 February and Winter School 24 January to 4 February 2022.

Apply now for the fourth LUCIS Summer School on Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim world, which will take place from Tuesday 23 August until Friday 2 September 2022 in Leiden. The deadline for applications is Friday 27 June 2022.

Two courses on Central Asia will be offered within the Leiden Central Asia Initiative, funded by the research profile area Asian Modernities and Traditions. 'History of Central Asia & Afghanistan' will be open to BA students of Middle Eastern Studies and 'Material Culture, Memory and Commemoration along…

The seminar is organised by the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI), The Royal Netherlands Institute for the Study of Southeast Asia and the Caribbean (KITLV) and Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS).

Are you eager to explore traditional and experimental audiovisual methods for ethnographic research? Do you consider translating your research findings into a documentary? Are you highly motivated, committed and hard working? Then Visual Ethnography is the right specialisation for you! Visual Ethnography…

Your theoretical knowledge and hands-on research experience fit very well with current labour market demands.

The Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia aims to promote research on the ancient languages and cultures of Arabia, and to disseminate this knowledge to the broader public.

This dissertation is a study of archaeological remains left behind by nomadic communities in the Black Desert, situated in the northeast of modern Jordan.

Designed for high-achieving students, Leiden University's master's in Middle Eastern Studies (Research) offers you unmatched resources and expertise.