Studiegids

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First year

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Common Core Course

Besides the “Theory and Methods” course students are strongly advised to attend the Thesis Writing Seminar, which is obligatory in the second year only.

Semester 1 (Fall semester)

Theory and Methods in Area Studies 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 Course: students choose one of the two following courses:

Besides the CCC of their choice students are strongly advised to attend the Thesis Writing Seminar, which is obligatory in the second year only. Students may opt to take both courses. One of them will then be counted as a specialisation course.

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

Specialisation courses

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

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.

Vak 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

The courses listed are, in principle, open to all students admitted to the MA Asian Studies (research). However, some of them may have additional entry requirements such as, for example, a particular level of language sufficiency. Please, see the course descriptions for further details.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Semester 1 (Fall semester)

Specialisation courses offered by the Research Master.

Oral Traditions 10

Specialisation courses offered by other MA programmes.

Anthropology of Muslim Societies 10
Beginners level language: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Indonesian, Russian, Tibetan, Turkish, Persian, Arabic 10
Buddhist sacred texts: Buddhism and psychology, advanced course 10
Chinese Linguistics 10
Chinese Art History 10
Economic Development and Social Change in Southeast Asia 10
Forgery as Historiography in Korean and East Asian History 10
Hindi Literature 10
Histories of Southeast Asia 5
History, Theory, Nation: Readings from the South 10
Indonesian Language 1 10
Language Training: Advanced readings in Premodern Chinese 5
Multiple Histories of Early Modern Japan 10
Nation, State and Security in Post-war Japanese Political Thought 10
The persecution of witches in premodern Asia 10
The politics of culture in Southeast Asia 5.0/10.0
Sharing the Tales of Buddha: Narrative Art in Asia 10
Sociology of Japan 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.

Pilgrimages and Holy Places 10

Specialisation courses offered by other MA programmes.

Areas and policies 10
Asia through consumption 10
Beginners level language 2: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Indonesian, Russian, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Turkish, Persian, Arabic 5
Eurasian Studies 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
Persian Literature outside Iran: A Literary History 10
Practicing Modernity:State and Society in Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus 10
Topical Readings in Korean 10
Topical Readings in Chinese (texts on premodern China) 10
Topics in Chinese linguistics 10
Topics in South and Southeast Asian Art History 5.0/10.0
`Ulamâ’ in the Modern Muslim World 10