Leidenanthropologyblog

Johannes Fabian (19 May 1937 - 6 January 2026): A Personal Appreciation

In January of this year, Johannes Fabian passed away at the age of 88. He will always be remembered, far beyond disciplinary boundaries, for his Time and the Other.

Peter Pels • 12-03-2026

Why do the Dutch never get tired of everyday sandwiches, the boterham?

At lunchtime on university campus one thing stands out: the boterham (sandwich). Coming from Japan’s elaborate bento culture, I was puzzled that so many students eat the same thin sandwich every day. I kept wondering, "Don’t they ever get tired of it?". This blog is a brief participant observation of that daily ritual.

Misato Okaneya • 13-01-2026

"We are the ones who marry our husbands."

Paying attention to gender relations in north-eastern Gabon leads to an emphasis on ethnography's propensity to provide access to the ‘minor mode of reality’: what flaws, signs of change or everyday resistance reveal a different perspective on gender relations in the country?

Etienne Bourel • 12-11-2025

Remembering Sabine Luning

On 6 March 2025, our beloved colleague Sabine Luning passed away. In this blog, we share some of the speeches of colleagues, students, interlocutors, and friends presented at a commemoration in the summer of 2025.

Ratna Saptari + 3 others • 29-10-2025

Futuring Heritage: More-than-human Tensions, Negotiations and Place-making in the Eastern Himalayas

The NWO-funded project Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community and Contestation in the Eastern Himalayas kicked off on January 6, 2025, with a multi-day workshop with our consortium members in Meghalaya, India. Abhimanyu Chettri and Anna Notsu, two PhDs of the research cohort, introduce their research projects.

Anna Notsu + 1 other • 14-10-2025

Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community and Contestation

‘Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community and Contestation in the Eastern Himalayas’ is a project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In the eastern Himalayas, agency is not just attributed to humans, but also to animals, plants, rocks, rivers, mountains, spirits and deities, often in a combination thereof.

Erik de Maaker • 17-09-2025

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