Towards an international orientation in the field.

What types of construction materials are used in the Global South, where are they, and what levels of societal services do they support? How will material use evolve under different development pathways and paradigms? What are these materials' environmental and societal impacts now and in the future,…

The research involves the application and combination of archaeological and archaeometrical methodologies. Petrographic analysis and isotopic provenance studies of raw materials and exotics, and the study of the distribution patterns of these materials are used to gain insight into the exchange of goods…

Landscapes of mobility in the northern Chilean altiplano: from chiefly networks to colonial markets (AD 1100-1800).

With your bachelor’s degree you’re more than a specialist in South and Southeast Asia. Alongside your subject expertise, you’ve developed a broad set of academic skills that give you a strong start to your career. Graduates often find roles where communication, advising, organising and teaching play…

This book explores the relationship between the production of new urban spaces and illiberal community-making in contemporary India. It is based on an ethnographic study in Noida, a city at the eastern fringe of the state of Uttar Pradesh, bordering national capital Delhi.

This book questions the accepted origins of the field of International Relations (IR). Commonly understood to have emerged from the horrors of WW1 with the goal of bringing about world peace, the authors argue that on the contrary, IR came from a somewhat less noble tradition – that of the Round Tab…

Sanne Dokter-Mersch defended her thesis on Thursday 15 April 2021.

This article examines how the threat of terrorism has been addressed at the policy level through an analysis of a specific case in Mali.

This Conference volume unites a wide range of scholars working in the fields of history, archaeology, religion, art, and philology in an effort to explore new perspec-tives and methods in the study of primary sources from premodern South and Southeast Asia.

Nirajan Kafle defended his thesis on 15 October 2015

In contemporary India, the regional state of West Bengal has often been perceived as somewhat of an aberration in the wider context of a rather chaotic democracy, as the Left Front (spearheaded by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPIM) demonstrated a rare instance of political stability, decisively…

For hundreds of years, the island of Sri Lanka was a crucial stopover for people and goods in the Indian Ocean. For the Dutch East India Company, it was also a crossroads in the Indian Ocean slave trade. Slavery was present in multiple forms in Sri Lanka—then Ceylon—when the British conquered the island…

Does foreign aid promote human rights?

This project aims at describing the Khoisan languages !Ora (Korana/Griqua) and !Ui of South Africa.

Natural resources often stretch across borders that separate modern nation states. This can create conflict and limit opportunities for regulated consumption of their goods and services, but also provide opportunities for joint multinational efforts that exceed single country capabilities.

DIGIFOOD is a transnational research project that investigates how data governance can support equitable and sustainable digital food systems. Around the world, digital technologies are transforming agriculture. Sensors in soil, satellites in space, and mobile phones in farmers’ hands are generating…

The funerary textile tradition from the Osmore Valley, South Peru, and its social-political implications (2005)

This project launches a research program into the theoretical status and the terminological basis of evidentiality systems.

On 12 April 2022 Alok Oak successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A study of Dutch Fort at Galle, Sri Lanka

The Asian Library holds the largest collection on Indonesia worldwide, and some of the foremost collections on South and Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea.

A newly opened museum in China appears to be devoted to the origins of the Austronesian-speaking peoples, who some 5000 years ago spread from East Asia across the Pacific, seeding it with a distinctive culture and some 1200 languages. But those displays are also a statement in the long-running dispute…

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award is delighted to announce that the 2024 prize has been awarded to Baleseng Maeneche, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at the University of the Western Cape, for her thesis 'Media Representations of Male Perpetrators of Violence against Women and Children:…

Lecture, This Time for Africa! series

LIAS is comprised of three research schools with expertise in different areas:

Do you have a question about student life in Leiden, studying at Leiden University, or do you want more information about the Asian Studies master's programme? Chat with a current student for answers to your questions!

This subproject offers a political and transnational perspective on the development and uses of public memories of the Revolt in the seventeenth century.

Engagement between Asia and Europe is increasing. If these continents want to build a lasting relationship, they need to understand each other better in the economic, socio-cultural, historical and legal arena. Researchers from Leiden have already contributed to the body of knowledge on past and present…

Overview of the Asia Programmes offered at Leiden University.

The VVI seeks to develop and disseminate socio-legal knowledge and theory regarding the interaction between law, governance and society. More specifically, the Institute studies the emergence, functioning, and evolution of legal institutions.

Subproject of

When you apply for admission, you’ll be asked to submit several documents.

Our AI researchers work closely with other institutions such as Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University.

Get the most out of your studies at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

This project investigates the rich linguistic history of the crucial language groups in East Africa and includes a search for words that indicate earlier lost languages. These outcomes, combined with recent archaeological and genetic research, will contribute to a new understanding of East Africa’s…

The Khoesan were the first people in Africa to undergo the full rigours of European colonisation. By the early nineteenth century, they had largely been brought under colonial rule, dispossessed of their land and stock, and forced to work as labourers for farmers of European descent.

The project aims at highlighting and strengthening Dutch research into the diversity of the world’s languages from a historic and a cognitive perspective.

Examine and experience the material features and characteristic appearances of medieval manuscripts, annotated books, prints, drawings, photographic albums and much more, in various settings.

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 Centre for Indigenous America Studies (CIAS) at Leiden University is designed to coordinate and promote the teaching and research of Indigenous languages, literatures, cultures and cultural heritage.