History, Arts and Culture of Asia (MA) (60EC)

About the programme

The one-year master's in History, Arts and Culture, a specialisation of Leiden University’s MA in Asian Studies, allows you to focus on one or more countries or regions of pre-modern, modern or contemporary Asia.

Programme structure

Courses (September start)
Course	EC
Introduction to Asian Studies	10
Comparative Asian Linguistics	10
Topics in Modern Chinese History	10
Democratizing Histories (10 EC)	10
Democratizing Histories (5 EC)	5
Critical Approaches to Heritage Studies	5
Religious Syncretism and the Study of Southeast Asian Cultures (10 EC)	10
Religious Syncretism and the Study of Southeast Asian Cultures (5 EC)	5
Cultural Heritage in East Asia: Dealing with the Past in Present and Future	10
Histories of Southeast Asia (10 EC)	10
Histories of Southeast Asia (5 EC)	5
Material Culture, Memory and Commemoration along the Silk Roads in Central Asia	10
Urban Ecology of Asian Cities	10
Topics in Chinese Art History, Things and Paths: Approaches to Chinese Art and Material Culture	10
Pure Land Buddhism	5
Pilgrimage and Holy Places	10
Hindi 1	10
Indonesian 1	10
Sanskrit 1	10
Tibetan 1	10
Introduction to Asian Studies	10
MA Thesis Asian Studies (60 EC)	15
Word and Image in Premodern Japanese Culture: Reworking the Classics	10
Approaches to East Asian Cinema (10 EC)	10
Approaches to East Asian Cinema (5 EC)	5
The Politics of Destruction: Targeting World Heritage	10
Sinographics: Chinese Writing and Writing Chinese	10
China and Global Cyberspace	10
Topical Readings in Historical and Literary Chinese Texts	10
The Past in the Present: Nation-building in Modern China (10 EC)	10
The Past in the Present: Nation-building in Modern China (5 EC)	5
Ecofeminism in Island Asia and Oceania	10
Oral Traditions	10
Hands-on Museum Research Experience (10 EC)	10
Hands-on Museum Research Experience (5 EC)	5
Cultures of Resistance: South Asia and the World (10 EC)	10
Cultures of Resistance: South Asia and the World (10 EC)	5
Culture and Conquest: the Impact of the Mongols and their Descendants	10
Esotericism, Politics, and Global South Asia	10
Taiwan MA Seminar	10
Buddhism seminar	10
Contemporary Japanese Literature and the Anthropocene	10
Art and Environment in East Asia	10
Hindi 2	10
Indonesian 2	10
Sanskrit 2	10
Tibetan 2	10

Critical Heritage Studies
Course	EC
Critical Approaches to Heritage Studies	5

For a more detailed programme, see the Prospectus.

Please note that this guide applies to the current academic year, which means that the curriculum for next year may slightly differ.

The first semester consists of the compulsory core course Introduction to Asian Studies that all students of the MA in Asian Studies have to take. You must also choose two or more elective courses that introduce the issues, debates and methodologies of one of the humanities disciplines within Asian Studies.

If you start the programme in the spring semester (February), you will take the Thesis and Methods Class in your first semester and Introduction to Asian Studies in your second semester.

In your second semester you will again take one or two electives for a minimum of 15 EC, or fulfill this partially by an internship, and write your MA-Thesis (15 EC).

If you have a special interest in heritage studies, it is possible to focus on critical heritage studies of Asia and Europe within the History, Arts and Culture programme. Inspired and supported by the Asian Heritages research cluster of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), these courses allow you to explore the contested character of all representations of culture, the plurality of notions of heritage in Asian and European contexts, and the way distinct and conflicting values of indigenous, local communities and official state discourses are negotiated.

The curriculum includes courses in critical approaches to heritage studies, and heritage and policy making, and a number of electives that focus on heritage management, specific subjects/regions of Asia, and/or the study of Asian languages.

In addition to the curriculum of the MA Asian Studies/HAC programme, there are two compulsory courses for the focus on Critical Heritage Studies:

In the first semester (start September), students should attend the course Critical Approaches to Heritage Studies, taught by Dr. Elena Paskaleva. This course is offered at the Faculty of Humanities.
In the second semester (start February), students should attend the course Heritage and Museums Studies II, taught by Dr. Mariana C. Françozo. The first part of the course is on Critical Museology, the second one on Community Engagement. This course is offered at the Faculty of Archaeology.

Once a term, Professor Michael Herzfeld delivers a guest lecture and meets with all students during individual appointments. For more information regarding his visits, please contact Dr. Elena Paskaleva.

Following the MA degree at Leiden University, you also have the opportunity to pursue a Dual Degree Programme, which is offered by Leiden University, the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and one of our Asian partner universities, including the National Taiwan University and Yonsei University in South Korea.

As far as certification in the Dual Degree Programme is concerned, upon successful completion you will have obtained two diplomas in total: the Leiden University MA diploma, the partner university MA diploma and a separate certificate for the programme in Critical Heritage Studies of Asia and Europe, issued by IIAS.

For more information about Critical Heritage Studies or the Dual Degree Programme, please contact dr. Elena Paskaleva. If you would like to apply for admission to Critical Heritage Studies, you are required to indicate this in your motivation letter with your application.

The curriculum of the MA in History Arts and Culture of Asia consists of core courses, electives, and a master's thesis. The programme’s modular structure, which includes elective courses in each of the two semesters and an individually-supervised thesis, gives you considerable freedom to tailor the curriculum.

Anne Gerritsen

Professor of Kikkoman Chair for the study of Asia-Europe Intercultural Dynamics

“I challenge my students to take responsibility for their own choices, by letting them select their own objects of study from museum collections, and providing them with hands-on experiences in museums and storerooms.”

Admission and Application

Do you want to find out if you are eligible for this Master's Programme?

Check the entry requirements