Ömer Gürlesin defended his thesis on 28 November 2018

How is tradition constructed and belief made plausible in fiction-based religion?

How do ideas concerning the academic study of religion relate to the socio-cultural and political context in which they are developed?

The aim of this Research Traineeship will be to analyze the underexplored reception of ancient religions in popular culture, taking Dutch spiritual magazines as a case study. There are five such magazines: Paravisie (1986- ), Paraview (1997- ), Happinez (2003- ), Bres (1965- ), and Prana/Mantra (1975-…

“Winner CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award 2016” A Cultural History

Are you eager to conduct policy-oriented research on issues of relevance to organisations? Do you want to combine ethnographic research with a 3-month internship? Do you have excellent analytical, organizational and communication skills? Are you flexible and hard-working? Then Sociology of Policy in…

Does the nature and extent of political communication networks, measured through the frequency and multiplexity of information exchange ties, play a critical role in the reconstitution and maintenance of the Chinese Empire?

What are the foundations of the regulation of blasphemy, and in which manner, in legal as well as in extra-legal terms, has blasphemy developed over the last decades?

Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR) studies religion as human activity, in all its diversity.

Within the Sociology of Policy in Practice specialisation you will develop a research project on prevailing policy problems.

On 23 October 2019, Yoram Stein defended his thesis 'Spinoza's Theory of Religion: The Importance of Religion in Spinoza's Thought and Its Implications for State and Society'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur and Prof. A.A.M. Kinneging.

On 27 June 2019, Barry Bussey defended his thesis 'The Legal Revolution Against the Accommodation of Religion: The Secular Age v. The Sexular Age'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. P.B. Cliteur.

For more than 1500 years, Confucianism has played a major role in shaping Japan's history - from the formation of the first Japanese states during the first millennium AD, to Japan's modernization in the nineteenth century, to World War II and its still unresolved legacies across East Asia today.

The eleven innovative essays in this volume explore the notion that all forms of modern mass politics, including liberal democracies, need such a form of sacralization of politics to function.

Bernini and Pallavicino, the artist and the Jesuit cardinal, are closely related figures at the papal courts of Urban VIII and Alexander VII, at which Bernini was the principal artist. The analysis of Pallavicino's writings offers a new perspective on Bernini's art and artistry and allow us to understand…

The Anthropology and Sociology network brings together researchers of LIAS and LUCSoR working from an anthropological and sociological perspective and researchers of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

This research programme encourages the analysis of nascent Islam within the framework of religious studies.

Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies analyses the role of religion in past and present understandings of Asia.

Markus Davidsen defended his thesis on 16 October 2014

Most of the vast Tibetan literature was authored by monks. They were Buddhists par excellence, educated in a system in which Indic- and Indian-inspired texts played a pivotal role. What they wrote was primarily religious or philosophical in nature, but also extended to ‘secular’ topics. Through the…

Despite the wealth of historical literature on the Second World War, the subject of religion and churches in occupied Europe has been undervalued.

Cultural anthropology development sociology, visual methods, policy in practice, global ethnography.

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.

Research in the field of Etruscology at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University (UL; the Netherlands) aims at exploring the history of the religious and ideological mentality of the Etruscans by studying archaeological, epigraphical and ancient written sources.

Religion in the ancient world, and ancient Egyptian religion in particular, is often perceived as static, hierarchically organised, and centred on priests, tombs, and temples. Engagement with archaeological and textual evidence dispels these beguiling if superficial narratives, however. Individuals…

Chaider Bamualim defended his thesis on 9 September 2015

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Many people in Asia and the West are attracted to Buddhism. This is because of this religion’s ‘image’ of being exotic and authentic.

Proceedings of the International Colloquium Leiden, May 29 and 30, 2008

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

LUCSoR will be represented at the upcoming American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference by Dr. Corey Williams (Assistant Professor) and Sasha Sabbah-Goldstein (PhD Candidate). The conference takes place from 19-22 November 2016 in San Antonio, USA.

Kalsang Gurung is the first Tibetan to obtain his PhD in Leiden. He carried out research into the accounts of Shenrab Miwo, the founder of the Bön religion. Gurung demonstrates that these accounts do not reflect historical reality. PhD defence: 31 May.

LUCSoR will be represented at the upcoming American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference by Dr. Corey Williams (Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Global Christianity) and Bas van Rijn (former BA and MA student). The conference takes place from 18-21 November 2017 in Boston, USA.

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?…

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…

Study Information

Time, Religion and Sacred Discourses of the Ayuuk People

Inspired by a critical reconsideration of current monolithic approaches to the study of Greek religion, this book argues that ancient Greeks displayed a disquieting capacity to validate two (or more) dissonant, if not contradictory, representations of the divine world in a complementary rather than…

In this dissertation, the life account is constructed of of the founder of Bon Religion, Shenrab Miwo.