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

It is well known that photography means writing with light. However, the meaning of “with” can be ambiguous. Film can be exposed outside of the camera. Historically, people have done so to render visible other forms of radiation than what we call light. In mid-2013, Andrew Littlejohn took several rolls…

This is a visual presentation for the panel Unbounded Obligations at Distribute2020 Conference by Federico de Musso.

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.

'Water, especially in the form of rainfall, has long shaped Meghalaya’s landscapes. Through a patterned weather cycle, farmers carefully time their sowing and irrigation. Religious rites and ceremonies also follow these agrarian rhythms, and other species find their moments to sprout. However, the past…

This article explores how notions of citizenship are negotiated in encounters between parents and youth care professionals in Amsterdam in the context of heated debates over citizenship and belonging. We draw on ethnographic research on Egyptian migrant parents’ interactions with the welfare state,…

In this article, Samuels elaborates the concept of narrative navigation to analyze the subjective and intersubjective ways in which people struggle through experiences of illness by constructing multiple, ambiguous and non-linear narratives that may continuously change, as they reposition themselves…

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…

'On 9 August 2024, amid the wet summer in Meghalaya, I attended a conference held at St. Edmund’s College in Shillong – an event that marked International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The event carried the slogan Indigenous Youth as Agents of Change for Self-Determination and began with welcome…

'Amid a growing trend of transitioning to tropical-fruit farming in Sicily, I spent three months working at several lemon farms in order to investigate how farm workers perceive and converse about climate change.'

The Cinematic Santri explores the rise and course over the last ten years of cinematic practices among a younger generation of NU associates (Nahdlatul Ulama), the largest traditionalist Muslim group in Indonesia and elsewhere.

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

Our Principal Investigator Bart Barendregt is also UNESCO Chair in the Anthropology of Digital Diversity.

Knowledge of Muslim societies is essential to function in a globalised world and to fully understand our own Dutch society. Leiden researchers explore the languages, cultures, religions, legal systems and history of Muslim societies and in this way contribute to a centuries-old tradition.

If a society is to be secure, sustainable and resilient, conflicting interests must be reconciled. Researchers at Leiden University study the behaviour of individuals, groups and states in relation to this issue, and use their knowledge to promote equality within and between communities.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences provides its ca. 5000 students with a thorough education in the social and behavioural sciences. The student population is very diverse and international in nature.

Subproject of

A post-colonial approach to the concept of time in the past and present Maya culture

The Liverpool care pathway for the dying patient (LCP) is a multidisciplinary tool developed for the dying phase for use in palliative care settings. The literature reports divergent experiences with its application in a nursing home setting related to its implementation and staff competencies. The…

Please contact us, if you would like to be in touch about the project:

This zine is an experimentation in layering and juxtaposition as bonding relations of care by Federico de Musso.

Please contact us with any questions regarding NESA.

Many dangerous diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola and Q fever have jumped from animals to humans. But it is not only because of these diseases that we should include animals in our health policy, but also because of their right to health.

This paper will address how digital affordances (Grasseni and Walter 2014) of the interactive documentary are an epistemological tool that shapes and fosters comparative reflections in collaborative ethnographic projects. To do so, I will analyse the process of planning and coding an i-doc (interactive…

If you would like to learn more about the project, please contact us:

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

In our HANDS!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies, we run projects pertaining to sign language linguistics with a focus on Africa. In addition, we are running projects on sign language teaching, tactile signing, deaf people’s experiences with the legal system, and deaf history.

Anthropologist Sander Hölsgens explores how skateboarding philosophy can revolutionise education by embracing failure, fostering creativity, and building supportive learning communities. Read his research on The Conversation.

Erik de Maaker and Radhika Gupta received a Seed Grant to initiate research on how heritage has been and can be mobilised to address climate change governance in Himalayan Asia. This project will address a significant knowledge gap on the potentials and pitfalls of climate governance, with an initial…

If you follow the western media, you are likely to think of ‘Africa’ as the continent of origin of desperate migrants, a continent of hunger and disease and a breeding ground for international terrorism. But if you want to see the bigger picture, you should look no further than the African Studies scholars…

Knowledge and culture subproject 3:

JUSTREMIT is an ERC-funded project that brings together political theory, ethnography, and security studies in an interdisciplinary study of remittances and global justice.

Wat zijn de huidige energiekosten en hoe is de comfortbeleving het wooncomfort in een bepaalde groep huurders van woningcorporatie Portaal?

Museum Temporalities analyzes how museums relate to time. It explores the hidden temporal assumptions and practices that define museums. How might these assumptions help us to better understand and address museums’ often problematic and painful relationship to the colonial past?

Learn how to conduct policy-oriented research, join one of our field schools and gain relevant working experience.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the process of archive formation ongoing in Post-Apartheid South Africa through the inclusion of photographs that have been either unacknowledged or excised from the national canon.

The Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology is one of five research institutes of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. The Institute is dedicated to high-quality, interdisciplinary education and research concerning culture and development.

Announcement of a new publication by Janneke Verheijen, lecturer at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.

Crafting Futures through Cheese-Making in Val Taleggio (Northern Italy) is written by Cristina Grasseni and is published in Gastronomica.

The field and the classroom invites ethnographers to engage with critical and engaged pedagogies. Breaking down the barriers between fieldsite and lecture hall, this research cluster aims to interrogate the structures and values that shape anthropological and sociological education today.

Are you interested in the minor Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology? Find out more about admission and application.

What if seriously ill patients do not want to hear their diagnosis? Does a clinician always need to provide a patient with all available information? Communication researcher Liesbeth van Vliet, medical anthropologist Annemarie Samuels and research intern Fiona Brosig will put these questions on open…