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Are you interested in how people create the world around them? Do you want to conduct three-month ethnographic research on a socially relevant topic of your own choice anywhere in the world? Then choose one of our three unique specialisations: design your own Global Ethnography project, work as a research intern in a Policy in Practice project or set up a Visual Ethnography project and translate your research findings into a documentary.

Three unique specialisationsGlobal Ethnography provides you with the opportunity to develop and conduct an individual research project at a location of your choice; •Sociology of Policy in Practice teaches you to think along with organisations to help them respond to the challenges they are facing in our quickly changing societies; •Visual Ethnography offers expanded training in how to use audio-visual methods for producing contemporary anthropological research.

Develop your personal research project
Do you feel engaged with a particular group of people or society? Do you have a socially relevant question in mind which you want to explore? The Master’s programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology enables you to develop a research on a topic of personal preference. Possible topics vary from the fate of LGBT refugees to initiatives of global sustainable tourism, from water management in African gold mines to digitalisation of heritage in Holland, from kickboxing Muslimas to storytelling in the Caribbean.

Theory and practice
Thorough coursework and intensive coaching by individual supervisors helps to develop your research. In order to select and organise your field site, this programme provides access to extensive research networks of our staff members. Our master’s programme offers you also the possibility to join staff members into their own research specialities. The combination of in-depth courses and your individual ethnographic fieldwork enables you to learn how to enter, participate in, understand and report on particular ways of living among different social communities. You acquire valuable skills for in and outside academia, including cultural awareness, analytical, critical and problem-solving skills.

Field Research and Training (FR&T)
The programme offers you outstanding Field Research and Training support in the Netherlands, Ghana and The Philippines. Hands-on training by experienced staff members from Leiden University speeds up your process of settling in your field site and understanding its research context. Participating in a FR&T is highly recommended as it provides the most effective way to collect evidence-based data and writing a cutting-edge analysis. However, individual projects can also 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 Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology.

Read more Master's programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology