Admission requirements
Only students who are admitted to the master’s programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, specialisation Global etnography can take part in this course.
Before starting the Ethnographic Fieldwork, the following conditions have to be met:
- Proficiency of of language has to be approved by the supervisor
- The Research Proposal has to be completed and graded sufficient by the supervisor.
- A Letter of Liability has to be sent to the coordinator of studies.
- A Pre-departure form has to be sent to the coordinator of studies.
Description
A list research topics is available on our website, tab Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc), Global Ethnography research opportunities.
Students can opt for one of the two kinds of Ethnographic Fieldwork :
1) Field Research & Training (FR&T)
Three different locations for Field Research & Training are organised and directed by the Institute of CA-DS: In the Netherlands, in Ghana, and in The Philippines.
The FR&T practicalities are organised collectively, however each student carries out his/her own individual research. Departmental staff supervises the preparation for the FR&T as well as the FR&T itself, by visiting the students at location. The Institute of CA-DS also arranges contacts with the local authorities, research permission and affiliation, and, in most cases, the accommodation of students in the research area. Subsequently, institute’s staff supervises the processing and reporting on field data.
2) Individual fieldwork
Individual Ethnographic Fieldwork may be conducted anywhere in the world provided that the location is safe and not afflicted by an armed conflict and if approved by the Institute of CA-DS.
Individual fieldwork is arranged by students themselves. It is expected that the student will independently establish the necessary contacts with local authorities, acquire research permission and affiliation as well as accommodation in the country of research. Supervision during this preparatory period is provided by the supervisor in Leiden. It is expected that the student at location is affiliated with an institute or a person willing to take (partial) responsibility for the fieldwork conducted, because the supervisor in Leiden will not visit the student in the field. Therefore, during fieldwork, the student is expected to regularly report to the supervisor, because the student remains under the supervision of his/her supervisor in Leiden during the entire period of fieldwork, and during processing the data and writing the Master Thesis.
Financial and practical matters
Ethnographic Fieldwork can be a costly endeavour for the student, as it will usually involve travel and the costs of additional accommodation. These expenses are not covered by the tuition fee for the master's programme.
To ease the financial strain various funds can be applied for:
Funds, made available by our external partners within some research projects.
Scholarships & grants offered by Leiden University.
Funds from the home country (in case of international students).
Also check the university's website for other practical matters regarding studying abroad and the website of the institute of CA-DS
Timetable
January, February, March 2019 for students starting in September 2018.
April, May, June 2019 for students starting in February 2019.
Examination
Throughout the fieldwork three reports have to be written:
Report 1: Operationalisation in the field, to be submitted to the supervisor after 3 weeks after start of the fieldwork.
Report 2: Reflection on the fieldwork experience, to be submitted to the supervisor after 6 weeks after start of the fieldwork.
Report 3 (final): Preliminary Analysis/Interpretation of the data.
The fieldwork is rated a “V” (pass) or "ONV" (fail) based on performance in the research setting.
Contact
MSc coordinator Dr. Erik de Maaker