Contact us if you have questions about the minor Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University.

Do you want to understand the complexities of today’s gender issues, social media use, food habits, social justice movements, labour relations or religious expressions? Join our international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and get insight into people's social…

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology is a social science. Anthropologists investigate the ways in which people give meaning to different aspects of their life and the way they interact with each other.

Cultural Anthropology Development Sociology explores how people assign significance to different aspects of their lives and with one another.

Contact us if you have questions about the LDE minor (Re)Imagining Port Cities.

We are very happy to welcome you to spend a semester or year studying with us at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology/Development Sociology (CA-DS). Here you will find practical information on studying CA-DS in Leiden as an exchange student.

information activities MSc Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Vulnerability and the associated levels of social resilience is what fascinates the researchers at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. What links a Japanese fisherman after the tsunami at Fukushima with a Ghanaian goldminer in an increasingly industrialised work environment?…

Information activities MSc in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

The Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS) of Leiden University hosts almost 50 PhD candidates working on a wide variety of topics.

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.

Do you want to understand the complexities of today’s gender issues, social media use, food habits, social justice movements, labour relations or religious expressions? Join our bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and get insight into people's social and cultural…

Do you want to understand the complexities of today’s gender issues, social media use, food habits, social justice movements, labour relations or religious expressions? Join our bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and get insight into people's social and cultural…

Explore global cultural differences with our International Bachelor's in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. Delve into gender issues, social media trends, food habits, social justice movements, and more.

Do you have a question about student life in Leiden, studying at Leiden University or do you want more information about our bachelor programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology? You can chat directly with our student ambassador!

The international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology covers three years, allowing you to establish a firm foundation and specialise in topics that you find interesting.

Study information

Do you have any questions about the international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology? Contact us!

Join the Master's in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University. Specialise in ethnographic research and gain valuable skills.

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

The master's programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology foregrounds ethnography as a method, to create insights into everyday cultural practices relevant to global processes of change. You can either propose your own individual research project (Global Ethnography), conduct more applied…

The master's programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology foregrounds ethnography as a method, to create insights into everyday cultural practices relevant to global processes of change. You can either propose your own individual research project (Global Ethnography), conduct more applied…

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University is known for its student-centred teaching and world-leading faculty.

Festival, Graduation Ceremony

Festival, Graduation ceremony

What are the social, cultural, and/or educational consequences and challenges linked to the introduction of the international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology?

Do you want to know more about Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and what it is like to study in Leiden? Come to our online or on campus information events.

To maximise your personal development, we ensure tutorials are small-scale and staff members extremely accessible. In year one, you’ll have an average of 12 contact hours, half of which comprise lectures (in English) and the remainder tutorials (optionally Dutch or English).

Colleagues from the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences work on a variety of topics that contribute to a healthy society. Erik Bähre, Tessa Minter and Natashe Lemos Dekker presented their work during the Healthy Society Event on 9 June 2022.

Protestant missionaries have provided the earliest and most detailed sources regarding the ritual art of the Papuan peoples of the Geelvink Bay.

Tarini J. Shipurkar was the winner of the 2016 IIAS National Master's Thesis Prize in Asian Studies. She wrote her thesis, entitled ‘Gender on Campus: Redefining Gender Identities at Jawaharlal Nehru University’, at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University.…

Online Open Days are increasingly gaining popularity. On 13 September 2017, Dr. Erik de Maaker, Jule Forth and Tarini Shipurkar from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology presented a webinar on their Master programme. The recorded webinar can be watched online.

Writing a story from the perspective of a Rwandan girl set in Africa is not an easy task. Alumna Cultural Anthropology Ruth Erica did it. Her debut novel The tree with the bitter leaves, in which an important supporting role is played by a student of cultural anthropology, appeared in August 2020.

Every year a photographer portrays Leiden as Stadsfotograaf (City Photographer) of the Leidsch Dagblad. This year it is the honor to Leonie van der Helm, an alumna of cultural anthropology. Over the next 52 weeks, Van der Helm will visualize the meaning of 'home'.

The bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology goes international! From September 2019, the entire programme can be followed in English and will be accessible for students from all over the world. On 14 February 2019, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology held an inspiring…

Since the beginning of September, Emma van der Plas (20) is the new student ambassador for CADS. Emma is a third-year student and is currently following a minor in Sustainable Development in Leiden. Her goal? To eliminate the stigmas surrounding anthropology.

The new student members of the Programme Committee (OLC) are Pablo Pandocchi, Benjamin Maldonado, Emily Berube-Palsboll and Nico Lesenfants Ramos.

Of jars and gongs deals with the traditional ritual art of Ot Danum Dayak subsistence farmers from a stretch of tropical rainforest in the heart of Borneo. Together with the Ngaju, their neighbours to the south, they gloried in one of the most elaborate secondary mortuary rites in the world.

The Netherlands School of Anthropology (NESA) is a graduate programme for PhD candidates who work in the field of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology . The programme starts with a methodology course and a series of master classes, with a gradual extension of the core activities envisioned…

Research on the process and construction of news stories about human rights issues in Latin American newspapers.

In honour of Prof. Dr. Gerard Persoon’s and Prof. dr. Ton Dietz’ work and on the occasion of their retirement from Leiden University, Ton Dietz’ and Gerard Persoon’s portraits have been added to the ‘Hall of Fame’ of the Insitute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.

Cultural Anthropology graduate Tommie Lambregts conducted fieldwork in the Slaaghwijk neighbourhood in Leiden as part of a Policy in Practice research internship commissioned by the municipality. Leiden Science City nominated his research as one of four 'most impactful student projects'. Award ceremony…

In the article Multimodality: Reshaping Anthropology, Mark Westmoreland describes how multimodality provides anthropologists with a new perspective on how we conduct research, produce scholarship, teach students, and interact with diverse audiences.

MSc Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology alumna Annelin Verkade is one of the four 'runners-up' for the IIAS Master Thesis prize 2017. Supervisor: Dr. Erik de Maaker. Award ceremony on 22 February 2018.

Claire van den Helder (fourth-year Cultural Anthropology student) and Orestes Kyrgiakis (second-year Cultural Anthropology student) won the Pieter de la Court Medal 2021. The Pieter de la Court Medal is an initiative for students by students and is awarded annually to students who voluntarily contribute…

Social and Behavioural Sciences, Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Liselotta Jahnke, Jason Irwin, Rachel Cruickshank and Paula Kovač are the new student members of the Programme Committee (OLC). This committee advises the Executive Board and the Faculty Board of CADS about educational matters, such as determining the Course and Examination Regulations and evaluating…