BSc Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Do you want to understand the complexities of today’s gender issues, social media use, food habits, social justice movements, labour relations or religious expressions? Join our international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology and get insight into people's social and cultural differences!

What will you learn

Our international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology challenges you to explore cultural diversity by seeing the world through other people’s eyes. You will be challenged to dive deep into topics that move you, from climate change to racism, homelessness, or child labour, to name but a few.

At Leiden, there’s also more to being an anthropologist than just reading about people or talking to political elites. We offer a unique mix of theory and practice, with students conducting fieldwork, doing internships, and producing films in the Netherlands and abroad.

"I’ve always thought of people as a never-ending collection of stories. Ever since I have approached them with this mindset, I have been marveled by the complexities of human relationships. This is what made me study Cultural Anthropology, and this is what brought me here to Leiden. Now that I am in my second year, I have developed a more nuanced understanding of the human experience by connecting it to broader social realities. I hope to continue doing so during the remainder of the programme. In an increasingly interconnected and diverse world, grasping these complexities proves to be more important than ever."

This programme is definitely for you if:

• You often wonder why people differ from each other;
• You want to learn why people behave the way they do;
• You empathise with and want to help individuals, groups, and communities affected by pressing issues;
• You are interested in photography and film as research methods;
• You relish the challenge of developing an independent mindset.

Why Leiden University?

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden is known for its student-centred teaching and world-leading faculty.

Five reasons to study Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden

• Gain knowledge of contemporary issues concerning diversity, social sustainability, and digitising societies;

• Spend a month living with the people you’ll be studying and learn how to conduct fieldwork on diverse topics from how nuns experience femininity to the challenges faced by fishermen;

• Combine theory with practice, acquiring unique audiovisual production skills in order to present your research findings to a wide audience;

• Take part in a highly international classroom,where all lectures and readings are in English while tutorials, workshops, fieldwork training, exams, and written assessments are in Dutch or English;

• Benefit from small-scale tutorials with staff members always accessible.

This program is definitely for you if:

• You often wonder why people differ from each other;
• You want to learn why people behave the way they do;
• You empathize with and want to help individuals, groups, and communities affected by pressing issues;
• You are interested in photography and film as research methods;
• You relish the challenge of developing an independent mindset.

To maximise your personal development, we ensure tutorials are small-scale and staff members extremely accessible. In year one, you’ll have an average of 12 contact hours, half of which comprise lectures (in English) and the remainder of tutorials (optionally Dutch or English).

Bachelor's programme structure

Year 1: Acquiring the basics

• During the first semester, you will learn anthropological theories and terms so you can study people in their daily lives and write about them. These courses pay attention to people’s resilience, creativity and the various ways they express themselves. In the second semester, you will be taught hands-on skills in the use of interviews, surveys, and observation as research techniques, always integrating the visual dimension that has become Leiden’s signature. And of course, you will learn general academic skills, such as how to write well.
• These skills will then be applied in a fieldwork workshop, either in Leiden or The Hague. This second semester will consolidate your position as a socially engaged researcher, eager to collate information while not losing sight of people’s concerns and daily lives.

Year 2: Deepening your knowledge, discovering your strengths

• In the second year, you can start specialising yourself by choosing between two tracks: Sustainable Societies (SuSo) or Digital and Audiovisual Ethnography (DAE).
• The SuSo track covers two key courses that will broaden your knowledge of sustainability and diversity by showing how they are connected to politics, the economy and the environment. The track therefore covers both social forms of sustainability and ecological sustainability. Those of you opting for this track will take classes that focus on the interplay between economic and ecological forms. Together with your fellow students from the DAE track, you will also take classes in diversity and power.
• The DAE track foregrounds Audio-Visual Ethnography and Digital Anthropology. This track focuses on how to use multimodal methods like documentary filmmaking, drawing and sonic ethnography to do social scientific research. You will also explore debates on how communities worldwide variously and creatively deal with digital affordances; and how digitalization helps continue cultural practice and shape social relations anew. What do humans do with fake news, hate speech, datasets big and small, or with emergent forms of digital (il)literacy and exclusion?
• It is an option to follow both SuSo and DAE. You can use the elective space in the third year to follow the courses of the other track.
• In both tracks, you will learn how practical research, creative methods and having a cultural perspective enable anthropologists to make crucial and original contributions to debates on global challenges, such as digitalisation, (lack of) diversity in representation and the impact and creative use of media technologies worldwide.
• Besides you will conduct a month-long fieldwork project in or near the Netherlands. You will learn to analyse your research data from different perspectives, link it to societal debates and present it at a conference in Leiden to which you can invite your research participants.

Year 3: Spreading your wings

Year three will give you the freedom to tailor your programme. Next to writing a thesis on a topic of your personal preference, you will follow an elective and a course that will help you choose between continuing your academic studies or entering the professional environment. Study for a semester abroad, follow a minor or do an internship.

Programme structure

The international bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology covers three years, allowing you to establish a firm foundation and specialise in topics that you find interesting.

Develop critical thinking

The first year encapsulates the personal development our programme promotes. You will enhance your thinking about difference, inequality, and cultural impact; coach yourself in a wide range of research skills; and apply these through first-hand field research. You will also develop a firm grasp of academic writing, referencing, and literature research techniques - invaluable for both academic and professional career paths - and acquire a profound understanding of issues relating to privacy, data management, and research ethics.

A few subjects highlighted

From the first year

Diversity & Development

The first-semester course of Diversity & Development exemplifies how anthropologists can critically analyse societies by exploring how people think about human differences and how they relate this to processes of change, both in their personal lives and their communities. This course is key to understanding differences and how inequalities are created.

Media Worlds

This course is about the roles that media play in gathering, processing, and presenting knowledge. It explores how anthropologists can use images and objects to communicate, and the significance nowadays of

digital communication and social networks. The course is an introduction to the visual and multimodal approaches that form part of Leiden's signature methodology of the international bachelor's programme in Anthropology

From the second year

Key issues

The three key issue courses in the second year will help you understand the deeply rooted connections between politics, the economy, the environment and digital media, from what can sometimes be surprising perspectives. For example, the link between Fair Trade merchandising and land grabbing in Africa, or between fashion and social media and the emancipation of female Muslims, racism and national heritage, or tourism and halal consumption. They will hone your analytical skills and give you the necessary content knowledge to optimally tailor your third year.

All second-year students follow the Key Issue Diversity & Power. Depending on your chosen track you will either follow the Key Issues Economy & Ecology and States & Citizens if you follow the Sustainability & Sociology track or Visual Ethnography and Digital Anthropology when following the Digital Audiovisual and Ethnography track.

From the third year

Medical Anthropology

What is medical anthropology and how do medical anthropologists study health, illness and the body? This course will offer a broad introduction to the field of medical anthropology. We will study the meanings and experiences of illness and health from an anthropological perspective and we will examine how local and global forces affect illness, suffering, pain, and healing.

Visual methods

This course provides a general theoretical introduction to visual methods, as well as hands-on training regarding the anthropological use of video. You are introduced to how photography and video can be used in anthropological research through the production of a short ethnographic video.

The choices you make during your bachelor's programme are crucial for your future career. Our Anthropology graduates work in fields varying from the development sector to policy work and heritage institutions.

Continuing your studies

Continue your study by finishing a master's programme to receive full training as an anthropologist.

This bachelor’s degree will admit you to Leiden’s own master’s programme in Anthropology, which has specialisations in Visual Ethnography, Policy in Practice, and Global Ethnography. It will also admit you to several Humanities and Social Sciences master’s programmes in Leiden, The Hague, or elsewhere, depending on how you tailored your third year.

What skills will you have?

After finishing your bachelor's programme in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, you have a strong understanding of cultural and social differences, experience with different research methods, and knowledge of how to apply these methods to fieldwork. In addition, you will have gained a solid foundation in analytical writing, invaluable for both academic and professional career paths.

• Leiden University Career Zone
• Career Service
• Mentornetwerk
• Study association Itiwana
• Career orientation
• Eyes on the job market

Jobs held by alumni of our program vary from diversity officer at a municipality to television producer, environmental consultant, fundraiser, coordinator of a refugee programme and privacy expert in a digital heritage project. What all these positions have in common is that they require candidates with a fascination for people, including how they live their daily lives and develop their cultural identities.

What will be your field of work?

After your bachelor's programme, you have two choices: continue your studies or start work. Many of our alumni work in the fields of communications, filmmaking, development, non-profit, education, and research.

• Policy/Management
• Media/Communication/Marketing
• Research
• Education