On this page you will find more information about the selected projects of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Fund for 2023.

Researchers within the cluster are committed to the close and expert analysis of the materiality and content of the arts, literature and media they study. Different types of media bring various aspects of this core interest to the fore.

The specialisation in Modern Languages explores the structure, acquisition, history and use of five languages.

During the master’s programme in Modern Dutch Literature at Leiden University you will learn to scientifically analyse literary texts, as well as other Dutch cultural texts, such as those found in hiphop songs and diaries.

Many thanks for visiting the Master’s Open Day on Friday 15 March! We hope that you enjoyed the day and that all your questions were answered.

The European Research Council had awarded a Starting Independent Researcher Grant to Bleda Düring for the project Consolidating Empire.Reconstructing Hegemonic Practices of the Middle Assyrian Empire at the Late Bronze Age Fortified Estate of Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, ca. 1230 – 1180 BC.

This project uses archaeological, literary and epigraphic evidence to investigate urban development in Roman-period North Africa, compiling this in a GIS-linked database in order to analyse the development of urban settlement spatially over time.

This book surveys a distinct human phenomenon in the history of the ancient Near East: individuals who were born males but, under various social and historical circumstances, their masculine identity was considered ambiguous. They bore specific titles and were engaged in cult or palace administration.…

This programme explores Graeco-Roman political, social, and cultural dynamics, focusing on empire development and its societal impact. It shows how imperial rule shaped cultures, religions, and identities, using inscriptions, papyri, coins, and archaeology to highlight perspectives beyond elite sour…

Dr Peter Webb (LIAS) has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his project Geo-Poetic Analysis of Pre-Islamic Arabia (GeoPo).

Literature, Language, and Multiculturalism in Scandinavia and the Low Countries presents a ground-breaking comparative approach to the study of multicultural literature.

Nuran Buket Cengiz defended her thesis on 13 June 2017

If you’ve graduated from the programme and you want to further your academic education you can continue with a master’s programme. It will earn you the title of Master of Arts (MA) and significantly increase your chances of finding a position at academic level.

From Great-Britain to the United States and from Australia to South Africa: people around the whole world speak and write English. In Leiden you will broaden your knowledge of the English language and the rich Literature and culture of the global English world on academic level.

What follows is a survey of existing programs and current projects for each of the participating universities.

To be eligible for Cultural Analysis: Literature and Theory at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

How do contemporary authorship and scholarship work together to shape the way that early twentieth century literary and cultural movements are remembered today?

In the current political situation of Bulgaria, it seems that a long-term caretaker government is the only viable option at the moment. Dimiter Toshkov, Antoaneta Dimitrova and Bernard Steunenberg of FGGA analyse what the Bulgarian caretaker government can learn from its Dutch counterpart.

From 3-6 December 2019 the conference “The Ties that Bind”: Mechanisms and Structures of Social Dependency in the Early Islamic Empire will take place. Deadline for sending in your abstract: 31 January 2019.

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).

The aim of this workshop is to open up the discussion of textual communities in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, by offering a platform for PhD students from all over the world and from various disciplines to present their own research and discuss it with others. Deadline: April 23.

Say biodiversity loss, and then say humanities. These two terms may not seem an obvious combination, but alumnus Simone Scholte explains that her Film and Literary Studies degree actually offers a unique perspective on the problem. She is therefore one of the 20 students participating in this year’s…

Two thousand years ago, the Middle East found itself caught between the rise of the Roman Empire in the west and the Parthian Empire in the east. PhD candidate Nolke Tasma has been awarded an NWO grant to investigate how local inhabitants experienced these changes.

The Journal of the LUCAS Graduate Conference was founded in 2013 to publish a selection of the best papers presented at the biennial LUCAS Graduate Conference, an international and interdisciplinary humanities conference organized by the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). The…

The English Language and Culture programme focuses on four areas, namely: philology, literature, linguistics and language acquisition. It also offers several specialisation options, ranging from renaissance literature to the use of metaphors.

The aim of the project is two-fold: first, to further scholarly understanding of the human dynamics that shaped the growth of Dorestad in a broader, international context; and second, to test the potential of multi-isotopic analyses on an early medieval Dutch assemblage.

Middle East Studies Lecture

Central to the research of several cluster members are the social function and contexts of the production and consumption of medieval and early modern art, literature and media:

This research examines the social, political, and cultural forces that structure people’s responses towards accented speech, and further uses the accent as a focal point to theorize the interrelation between language and body.

This study is an attempt to reconstruct the muted violent past by breaking the monopoly of the Turkish state over the memory of the Armenian genocide.

Engin Kiliç defended his thesis on 11 june 2015

How are the narrative concerns of Nigerian female writers constructed in relation to the structure to their society?

Empirical and experimental research focusing on literary, legal, medical and audiovisual translation.

LUCAS members are experts in the fields of literary history and theory, film and media studies, and art, architectural, and book history. Members of LUCAS teach in a wide variety of Bachelor's, Master’s, and Research Master’s Programmes.

On the 31 March 2022 Mr. Taufiq Hanafi successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

How do we define the works of a film director whose films cross many established boundaries at once?

Find out how to apply for French Literature and Culture at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

Find out how to apply for Literature in Society: Europe and Beyond at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

Find out how to apply for German Literature and Culture at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

This book presents a thorough analysis of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s memory culture, focusing particularly on commemorations and representations of the Anfal and Halabja atrocities.

This project aims to study the Aesopian fable from 1500 to the present day in its complex relationship between text, illustration and education, adopting a broad, transnational perspective.

Despite the fact that transnational movement and intercultural encounter are the signs of our present time, questions of belonging and legitimation of citizenship in most West-European countries still largely depend on monolingual norms and the problematic conflation of the idea of a national language…

Find out how to apply for English Literature and Culture at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

Find out how to apply for Italian Literature and Culture at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.