Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
Field Research and Training (FR&T) programmes
The programme offers you outstanding ‘Field Research and Training’ support in the Netherlands, Ghana, Indonesia, and The Philippines. Hands-on training by experienced staff members from Leiden University speeds up your process of settling in your field site and understanding its research context. A ‘FR&T’ is organized in areas where three or more master students conduct fieldwork. Participation in a FR&T is highly recommended as it provides the most effective road to collecting evidence-based data and writing a cutting-edge analysis.
FR&T programmes can be combined with the specialisation of your choice: Global Ethnography, Policy in Practice or Visual Ethnography.
Field Research and Training programme in Ghana
Research possibilities
Ghana is a perfect place for the FR&T programme because of its variety of research possibilities: both the urban and rural settings provide a wealth of interesting themes in the fields of popular culture, heritage issues, governmentality and authorities of chiefs, religious practices, land use changes, material culture etc.
Experimenting with research methods
The FR&T programme in Ghana lasts most of the month January and starts with staying on the Campus of the University of Ghana to introduce students to academic life in Ghana. The first period is then devoted to trying out and evaluating different methodologies of research (e.g. interview, survey, network analysis and mapping or photo and video elicitation) in concrete social settings. Together with the Ghanaian and/or Leiden staff member, students travel up north and visit different field sites to learn more about Ghanaian history, cultural practices, and social conventions.
Try out your individual research project
After this first methodological journey, you will be able to decide where you want to try out your individual research project. The second-third week of January, you carry out fieldwork on your own in the locality of your personal choice. You will look for housing and hosting opportunities and start to familiarize yourself with the new setting. You can test the feasibility of your research plans in the chosen locality. In the last week of January, you reunite with the other Master students in Ghana to report back, and together with a Leiden staff member, you evaluate your experiences in a two-day workshop somewhere central in Ghana
Involved supervisors
After this closely supervised starting month, you will go (back) to your selected field site to continue your fieldwork independently for two months, or six weeks for those participating in the Visual Ethnography specialisation.
More information
For more information, please contact dr. Sabine Luning (sluning@fsw.leidenuniv.nl).
Field Research and Training programme in the Philippines
More information about the Field Research and Training programme in the Philippines is coming soon.
Field Research and Training programme in the Netherlands
A FR&T programme in the Netherlands offers an on-site, intensive training in research methodologies. It strongly links up with the Methodological Internship-week in the course Research Design. A ‘FR&T’ is organized in a province in The Netherlands where three or more master students conduct fieldwork. During the first half of January your supervisor trains you and your fellow students in research techniques and skills related to your research project.
For more information, please contact dr. Jan Jansen jansenj@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.