What socio-cultural transformations did indigenous communities in the Lesser Antilles undergo from the late precolonial to the early colonial period in response to Amerindian­ European-African cultural encounters? How did Amerindian populations realign themselves in response to the colonisation…

Linking botanical collections, peoples, and illustrations in seventeenth century Dutch Brazil

Collaborative linguistic research on indigenous languages of Ecuador: description, documentation & materials

Context and contents of the Izcatqui manuscript in the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam

Spirit priests and ancestor cults in new guinea's far west

This project studies travel writing about the Dutch East Indies written between 1800 and the end of the Second World War. By analyzing both Dutch travel texts and Indigenous travel texts in Javanese and Malay, it presents a new, double-voiced perspective on (the historiography of) the Dutch colonial…

Mexico, between 500 B.C. and A.D. 900

In his new six-hour series, Africa's Great Civilizations, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes a new look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century. One of the experts interviewed in the programme is our own dr. Sada Mire.

The idea that socially anxious people avoid eye contact because they are not interested in other people needs to be changed. They take their information from other physical sources, such as people's hands. This is the finding of Leiden psychologist Mariska Kret whose research has been published in…

We have the pleasure of hosting organisational psychologist Fieke Harinck. Fieke is an expert on negotiation, communication skills and improvisation and co-author of the book ‘The Art of Presenting’. She shares invaluable insights and advice on how to deliver impactful presentations that captivate your…

Course

This project seeks to integrate scientific research and practical knowledge in the study of the mechanisms that make dialogue an effective tool for communication, teaching, and thinking.

This thesis describes the development of a variety of mannosylated conjugates. Antigen presenting cells bear mannoside recognizing receptors that actively transport antigen into the cell. This thesis exploits this feature for the development of improved vaccines.

In countries with complex domestic situations, citizens have little opportunity to exercise influence on governance and policy. Leiden academics research these situations and share their insights with the public, such as in Nigeria for instance. This enables the people and their communities to improve…

The project will create a digital platform to document and disseminate the knowledge contained in the Reverse Tonindeye Codex (Nuttall) and its relation with the history of the Iya Nacuaa Teyusi Ñaña “Lord 8 Deer Jaguar Paw” in both Mixtec and Spanish. The codex and the history of this 12th century…

The goal is to develop educational materials for Dâw, Hupd’äh, and Nadëb Indigenous peoples (Naduhup family; Middle and Upper Rio Negro; Brazilian Amazon). In order to achieve this, first of all, the fieldwork data collected during a collaborative project among anthropologists and linguists (2017-2020)…

Lecture

What categories exist in the languages of pastoralists? Do these semantic concepts reflect universal or languagespecific tendencies? What (environment? culture?) governs the similarities (or the differences) attested crosslinguistically in cattle colour systems?

Drones are proving to be a good means of mapping man-made changes in the landscape. Geophysicist Till Sonneman and his colleagues (archaeology) are experimenting with drones in inaccessible areas of the Caribbean.

Paisaje, cerámicas e interacciones

El Chorro de Maita, Cuba

Estudio arqueológico de la primera ciudad española en la Tierra Firme de América: Santa María de la Antigua del Darién

Trajectories of social life in the yucayeque (community) of El Cabo, Higüey, Dominican Republic, AD 800 to 1504

During the project, this page will be updated with various written and audiovisual research outputs.

ASLU 29 Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen, Valentina Raffa (2015)

In the week of 14 to 18 January the Lorentz workshop 'Intersecting Worlds. The Interplay of Cultures and Technology' took place at the Lorentz Center in Leiden. Attracting many scholars from across the world, the workshop explored the transformations and responses of indigenous societies around the…

What is the effectiveness of (booklet or online) self-help programmes for people with somatic stressors and depressive symptoms? What works best for whom? How to improve motivation and adherence?

This collaborative project aims to explore the history of the concept “barbarism” in Europe from the 18th century to the present, with a particular emphasis on the role of literature and art in the concept’s shifting functions.

A study concerning the collective memory in the region of the Bene lo Ya/ Ene lo I'ya, Sierra Norte, Oaxaca.

How did colonial law work to turn people into property? This project argues that colonial ideas about households and domestic authority were critical to legal processes of enslavement in the early modern Dutch empire. Using colonial court records from Dutch Brazil, Suriname, and the Moluccas, the project…

This project focuses on two Mayan languages in contact: Awakateko and K’iche’. With the aim to create a database to be accessible to researchers, students, and indigenous activists interested in Mayan languages, this project will train Mayan speakers on transcription, translation, and analysis of…

Dementia is widely considered a progressive condition associated with changes in cognitive capacities, which promotes the idea that people with dementia need to anticipate end-of-life care preferences. There is a growing body of interventions meant to support advance care planning (ACP) for people with…

On 29 April 2023, Jan Aart Scholte and co-researcher Hortense Jongen presented their research on legitimacy in multistakeholder global governance to the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Brussels.

On 4 May 2023, Jan Aart Scholte presented the co-authored report 'Global Governance: Fit for Purpose?' to the International Organisations Partnership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) at the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in Geneva.

Carina van den Hoven defended her thesis on 16 February 2017.

Short introduction

The research aims to understand how did Cuban and Dominican landscape encapsulate historical conceptual transformations about human –nature spiritual interaction after the Spanish conquest? More specifically, what are the present day cultural associations with Cuban and Dominican natural landscape?…

Maps play a crucial role in our view of the past, yet few historians are sufficiently skilled in cartography to genuinely integrate maps into their research. This project breaks down the long-standing barriers between history and cartography by inviting emerging scholars (ResMA) to reflect on maps as…

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University studies the everyday practices of individuals and groups around the world in relation to the complex global challenges of diversity, sustainability, and digitalisation.

The focus of this programme is the inter-community social relationships and transformations of island networks in the Lesser Antilles across the historical divide.

The modern-day Caribbean is a stunningly diverse but also intricately interconnected geo-cultural region, resulting partly from the islands’ shared colonial histories and an increasingly globalizing economy.

Mei-Wen Chen defended her thesis on 29 June 2016

Debate

Time, Religion and Sacred Discourses of the Ayuuk People