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Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Master

Master’s programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University covers one year.

Successful completion of the MA program involves completion of all its components:

  • three compulsory courses

  • one elective course

  • research proposal

  • field-research (filedwork)

  • MA thesis

The MA programme starts in September of each year. There is also a possibility to start the program in February each year, but students who wish to do so should realise that this involves an alteration in the order of the courses of the MA programme. Both versions of the programme are outlined below.

September-intake

The programme offers the following three specialisations:

  • Global Connections

  • Environment and Development

  • Media and Material Culture

Specialisations are based on elective course, research and thesis. Each specialisation offers a corresponding elective course. If the topic of one’s research and thesis fall within the broad theme of the specialisation and the elective course, the specialisation requirement is fulfilled and the specialisation will be mentioned in the diploma suppement.
Students may also choose not to specialise, which can be the case if their research deals with issues that do not directly relate to the three given tracks.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Large Issues, Small Places: Theorizing Ethnographic Research 5
Doing Ethnography 5
Research Proposal CA-DS 5
Fieldwork 15
Writing Seminar: telling your story 5
Master Thesis (CA-DS) 15

Elective Course, choose 1 of the following:
Environment and Development 10
Media and Material Culture 10
Global Connections 10

February-intake

The programme offers the following specialisations:

  • Global Connections

  • Environment and Development

  • Media and Material Culture

Specialisations are based on elective course, research and thesis. Each specialisation offers a corresponding elective course. If the topic of one’s research and thesis fall within the broad theme of the specialisation and the elective course, the specialisation requirement is fulfilled and the specialisation will be mentioned in the diploma suppement.
Students may also choose not to specialise, which can be the case if their research deals with issues that do not directly relate to the three given tracks.

Since February 1st is officially the start of the second semester at Leiden University, students who start with the programme in February will complete the programme of the second semester first and then go on to do the coursework of the first semester of the next academic year, together with the students who start in September of that year. In this sense, the students from the February-intake follow the programme in a reverse order.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

CONTINUATION OF THE PROGRAMME for students who started in February 2010
Large Issues, Small Places: Theorizing Ethnographic Research 5
Writing Seminar: telling your story (February intake) 5
Master Thesis CA-DS (February intake) 15

Elective Course, choose 1 of the following:
Environment and Development 10
Global Connections 10
Media and Material Culture 10

START OF THE PROGRAMME for students who enrol from February 2011
Doing Ethnography (February intake) 5
Research Proposal CA-DS (February intake) 5
Fieldwork (February intake) 15

Pilot Joint MA Degree "Media & Material Culture"

The joint degree MA pilot programme on ‘Media and Material Culture’ is a 90 ECTS programme, and covers one and a half years. Students enrolled in the joint degree MA pilot programme are required to follow all the courses included in the 60 ECTS MA programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University, and obtain an additional 30 ECTS at Heidelberg University.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Doing Ethnography 5
Large Issues, Small Places: Theorizing Ethnographic Research 5
Fieldwork 15
Research Proposal CA-DS 5
Media and Material Culture 10
Writing Seminar: telling your story 5
Master Thesis (CA-DS) 15

Elective courses in Heidelberg WINTER SEMESTER
Anthropology of Art in a Global Context 6
Contemporary art in South Asia and its diasporas 6
Doing Media Ethnography: Visual Methods and Forms of Interviewing 6
Reading images transculturally 6