Today, humanity produces sufficient calories, in theory, to feed the 7.7 billion people on the planet: the amount of food produced per person on the planet has gone up more than 40% since the 1960s. Yet, ironically, the prevalence of undernourishment – which had been declining for decades – has started…

This paper describes the development process of voting behavior in Chile; particularly the relationship between the class voting theory and the theory of cultural post-materialist vote is investigated. This research deals with Chile as a case study, a developing country with a relatively stable democracy…

The skateboarding world was highly enthusiastic about the participation of skaters in the Olympic Games in 2021, although there was also a lot of opposition. Researcher Sander Hölsgens observes that the discussion has now abated and that the Games have had positive effects for skateboarders and citi…

Festival, Graduation ceremony

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…

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

Charisma K. Lepcha (PI, Sikkim University), Pradyut Guha (co-PI, Sikkim University), Rajib Sutradhar (co-PI, Christ University Bangalore) and Erik de Maaker (Leiden University) have been awarded a two-year grant of USD 18.000 to conduct research on the impact of ‘green farming’ on the sensitive mountain…

Research how ‘custom’, ‘traditions’ and ‘heritages’ take on new meanings in the uplands of South and (mainland) Southeast Asia.

Sea-ing Africa explores how infrastructure in Ghana and Morocco shapes development, blending geopolitics, economics, and culture, impacting local and societal dynamics.

This section features online articles by or about the team members of the Food Citizens? project.

If you are aware of the admission requirements of the bachelor’s programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden University, it's time to check the application deadlines.

Announcement of the publication of Vamping the Stage: Female Voices of Asian Modernities, the first book-length study of women, modernity, and popular music in Asia (University of Hawai'i Press, 2017).

This project examines the notion of sacred fertility and sacred landscapes, associated rituals and material culture, both archaeological and ethnographic manifestations in the Horn of Africa.

On 5 September, Elize de Mul defended the thesis 'Digital Döppelgangers: identity in the Culture of Imagination'. The doctoral research was supervised by Simone van der Hof and Esther Keymolen.

How are contemporary art practices from Southeast Asia negotiating notions of art and tradition?

Explore the profound impact of silences on social, political, and interpersonal dynamics in complex historical contexts. This collection of essays challenges assumptions and draws on diverse academic fields to reveal the pervasive nature of silence in human existence.

Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability showcases how the eco-geological creativity of the earth is integrally woven into the landforms, cultures, and cosmovisions of modern Himalayan communities.

Find out how to apply for Visual Ethnography at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

Find out how to apply for Policy in Practice at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

Disciplinary History and Epistemology

ReCNTR is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the advancement of multimodal and audiovisual research methods in the social sciences and humanities. It is supported by the Institute of Cultural Anthropology, the Institute of Political Science, the Center of the Arts in Society at Leiden…

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.

In this opinion article published in World Development, the authors present five research and policy priorities. While it is clear that ‘pluriversal’ designs need to guide the way forward (Kothari et al 2019), defining a set of key pillars can provide direction and purpose across this pluriversality.…

How do people experience ‘inclusion’ in sports? How can experiential expertise enhance policies in sport and inclusion? This research internship at The Mulier Institute enables a student to investigate these issues from a qualitative research perspective.

This is the first special issue of any organisation studies journal on food labour. Why is this a big deal? In this Introduction, we argue that the field should pay much more attention to the agri-food system and the work that goes into producing, distributing and consuming foodstuff. Food is such an…

HZ Kenniscentrum Zeeuwse Samenleving doet op vraag van regionale overheden en maatschappelijke organisaties onderzoek naar actuele en maatschappelijke thema’s in de provincie Zeeland. De uitkomsten van onderzoeken en analyses worden gebruikt voor kennisopbouw en als basis voor beleidsopbouw en -ontwikkeling.…

Grasseni's contribution to this special feature on food cultures, food systems, and agriculture in Europe builds upon her ongoing project Food citizens? Collective food procurement in European cities: solidarity and diversity, skills and scale.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused immense destruction and over 170,000 deaths in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The disaster spurred large-scale social and political changes in Aceh, including the intensified implementation of shari‘a law and an end to the long separatist conflict. After the Tsunami…

Climate Proofing Industrial Estates: Entrepreneurs’s Participation in the City of Leiden

Climate Proofing the Neighbourhood: Evaluating Citizen’s Participation in the City of Leiden

Research on the process of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in West-Africa

'Re-territorialising skills? Insights from ethnography on solidarity-economy food activism' is written by Cristina Grasenni and published in the Special Feature: Original Article Agriculture (re‐)territorialisation: Balancing the promotion of local products and international trade in Europe.

Leiden is a lively university city, brimming with history and boasting a student life that’s tangible just about everywhere.

Find out how to apply for Global Ethnography at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

'Food Citizens? An anthropological project on collective food procurement in European cities

Visual Ethnography combines anthropological theory and hands-on audiovisual practice.

The Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences has the responsibility for all PhD candidates in the field of social and behavioural sciences. The School's themes are anthropology, education and child studies, political science, psychology and science and technology studies..

Do you wish to contact us for further information on the collaboration between Leiden University and Indonesia?

'Reworking Culture is based on the author’s ethnographic engagement with people in and around the village of Sadolpara in the West Garo Hills in highland Northeast India (HNEI), where he conducted more than 20 years of fieldwork.'

The article Sing with Me, Sing, Brother, of América by Sing with Me, Sing, Brother, of América Benjamin Fogarty-Valenzuela is published in Current Anthropology Volume 62.

The presence of religious idioms in people’s responses to vulnerability and misfortune is not unique to Aceh, or to Indonesia. Yet the scale of the tsunami coupled with the historically deeply ingrained presence of religion in Acehnese everyday life has magnified religious discourses on misfortune,…

Discover the impact of financial products on inequality and conflict in South Africa through Erik Bähres' book 'Ironies of Solidarity', now available in Brazil as IIronias da solidariedade. Explore the role of insurance companies in serving financially disadvantaged African individuals.

There are five institutes at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences:

In this article, Samuels focuses on the active fostering of subjunctivity in processes of narrative worldmaking. Drawing extensively from the narrative of an HIV‐positive woman in Indonesia, she shows that by subjunctively leaving open multiple narrative trajectories and future possibilities, individuals…

There is no heritage without emotional sharing and clashing. This article explores the involvement of divergent emotions in heritage making by discussing the debate series of Imagine IC and the Reinwardt Academy and zooming in on the commemoration of slavery and imagery of ‘Black Pete’ in the Netherlands.…

Dividing Worlds: Tsunamis, Seawalls, and Ontological Politics in Northeast Japan