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Area Studies (Research): Asia and the Middle East: Comparative Area Studies

The MA Area Studies (research): Asia and the Middle East is discontinued as from 1 September 2012. Students having started before this date are able to finish their studies until 31 December 2014 at the latest.

Alternative programmes starting from 1 September 2012 onwards are:

Second year

After the completion of their first year students may opt to spend the summer or a complete semester (semester 3) to study abroad at one of the institutions affiliated with the programme or to do fieldwork. Students who want to go abroad need to contact a potential supervisor of their project early in the second semester (of the first year) to write a sound proposal. This proposal needs to be submitted to the Board of Examiners for approval at least two months before the student leaves (preferably before the end of the second semester).

Students who are staying in Leiden are obliged to take the Thesis Writing Seminar and choose two (or more) courses from the list of specialisation courses.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1 (Fall semester)

Common Core Course

Thesis Writing Seminar (Area Studies, Asian Studies and Middle Eastern Studies (research)) 10

Specialisation courses

Students choose two or more specialisation courses up to a minimum of 20 EC from the list.

Semester 2 (Spring Semester)

Common Core Courses

Thesis Writing Seminar (Area Studies, Asian Studies and Middle Eastern Studies (research)) 10
Research MA Thesis (Area Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Studies) 30

Specialisation courses

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1 (Fall semester)

Specialisation courses offered by the Research Master

Oral Traditions 10
Historiography and Cultural History (Persian) 10

Other specialisation courses

Anthropology of Muslim Societies 10
Buddhist sacred texts: Buddhism and psychology, advanced course 10
Chinese Art History 10
Economic Development and Social Change in Southeast Asia 10
Forgery as Historiography in Korean and East Asian History 10
Histories of Southeast Asia 5
History, Theory, Nation: Readings from the South 10
From Manuscript to Modern Media: Transmission of Texts and Knowledge in the Islamic World 5.0/10.0
From Ottoman Empire to Turkish Republic 10
Global Christianity: the Middle East (1800-present) 5
Multiple Histories of Early Modern Japan 10
Nation, State and Security in Post-war Japanese Political Thought 10
Sharing the Tales of Buddha: Narrative Art in Asia 10
Sociology of Japan 10
The persecution of witches in premodern Asia 10
The Ottoman Empire and Europe 10
The politics of culture in Southeast Asia 5.0/10.0
Theories and Methods of Middle East and Islamic Studies 10
Using Language in context: Narrative and Interaction 10
Writing Histories: Modern Japan, Asia, and the World 10

Semester 2 (Spring semester)

Specialisation courses offered by the Research Master

Art History and Archaeology of the Christian and Islamic Middle East 5.0/10.0
Pilgrimages and Holy Places 10
Religion, art, and identity of Christian societies in the Middle East 10

Other specialisation courses

Eurasian Studies 10
Areas and policies 10
Asia through consumption 10
Continuity and Change in Turkish Culture 10
Culture and Society in the Medieval Muslim World 10
Developments in the Modern Middle East 10
Hands-on Research Experience in Museum Volkenkunde 10
History and Heritage in South Asia 10
Image/Text in Pre-modern Japan 10
Life and Work in Contemporary China 10
New Diversities in Asia 10
Practicing Modernity:State and Society in Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus 10
Topics in South and Southeast Asian Art History 5.0/10.0
Turkey since World War II 10
`Ulamâ’ in the Modern Muslim World 10