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

Master

One of the specialisations of the Research Master Area Studies: Asia and the Middle East is Comparative Studies. Within this specialisation students take three common core courses together with all the students of the Research Master. The remaining course load can be filled in with the specialised regional and thematic courses on offer. Students may follow their own interest and, after consultation with their track leader, compose a coherent programme which suits their field of interest. They should be aware, though, that for some of the courses a certain level of knowledge of a particular language is required (see course descriptions). Students are strongly advised to contact the track leader or student advisor when composing their programme.

In the first year, they have one common core course in the first semester (Theories and Methods in Area Studies) and one in the second semester each having a weight of 10 EC. In the second year, all students have to take the Thesis Writing Seminar of 10 EC.

First Year

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1 (Fall Semester)

Common Core Course(s) (10 EC) (sem 1)

Theory and methods of Area Studies is obligatory for first year students. They are also strongly advised to attend the Thesis Writing Seminar for which they will receive credits in the second year only.
Theories and Methods in Area studies 10
Thesis Writing Seminar Research Master Area Studies (Sem 1 & 3) 10

Specialisation courses: choose two of the following courses (sem 1)
Anthropology of Islamic Law 10
Art and Material Culture of South Asia and Tibet 1 0
Chinese Studies Master Class: Languages and Cultures of China 10
Christianity in the Middle East (1800-present) 5
Culture Seminar: Histories 5
Economic Development of Southeast Asia 10
History, Theory, Nation: Readings from the South 10
Law and Society in the Maghreb 10
Sharing the tales of the Buddha: narrative art in Asia 10
Society and Culture in the Caucasus and Central Asia 10
South Asian History 1 0
State of the field seminar: History as Social Process 10
State of the Field Seminar: Issues in the History and Historiography of Modern Japan 10
State of the Field Seminar: Multiple Histories of Early Modern Japan: a multidisciplinary approach to Japan's past 10
State of the Field seminar: Traditional Chinese Culture 10
The Islamic Book: from Manuscript to Modern Media 10
Theories and Methods of Middle East and Islamic Studies 10

Semester 2 (Spring Semester)

Common Core Course (10 EC) (sem 2)

Students choose one of the two courses (“Culture and Conquest” or “State and Society”). They are also strongly advised to attend the Thesis Writing Seminar for which they will receive credits in the second year only.
Arts and Culture in Area Studies: Culture and Conquest: the impact of the Mongols and their descendants 10
State and Society: Orientalism, Colonialism, and Post-Colonialism 10
Thesis Writing Seminar Research Master Area Studies (Sem 2 & 4) 10

Specialisation courses: choose two or more of the following courses up to a total of 20 EC (sem 2)

Please, also refer to the other specialisations, Middle Eastern Studies and Asian Studies.
Art and Material Culture of South Asia and Tibet 2 0
Content Course China: Anthropology 10
Pilgrimages and Holy Places 10
Environment and Development 5
Oral Traditions 10
Piety, Modernity, and Gender in Islam: Anthropological Perspectives 5
Political Economy of Southeast Asia 5
Practicing Modernity in Central Asia and the Caucasus 10
Religion, art, and identity of Christian societies in the Middle East 10
South Asian History 2 0
Islam and Modernity 10

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 our 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 courses from the list below during the third semester.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1 (Fall Semester)

Common Core Course (10 EC): all students have to take this obligatory course (unless they are abroad).
Thesis Writing Seminar Research Master Area Studies (Sem 1 & 3) 10

Specialisation courses: choose two of the following courses (sem 1)
Anthropology of Islamic Law 10
Christianity in the Middle East (1800-present) 5
Culture Seminar: Histories 5
Economic Development of Southeast Asia 10
History, Theory, Nation: Readings from the South 10
Law and Society in the Maghreb 10
Sharing the tales of the Buddha: narrative art in Asia 10
Society and Culture in the Caucasus and Central Asia 10
State of the field seminar: History as Social Process 10
State of the Field Seminar: Issues in the History and Historiography of Modern Japan 10
State of the Field Seminar: Multiple Histories of Early Modern Japan: a multidisciplinary approach to Japan's past 10
State of the Field seminar: Traditional Chinese Culture 10
The Islamic Book: from Manuscript to Modern Media 10

Semester 2 (Spring Semester)

Common Core Course: all students have to take this obligatory course.
Thesis Writing Seminar Research Master Area Studies (Sem 2 & 4) 10
Thesis Research Master Area Studies 30