9 October 2025

This talk examines the trope of the “white witch” in the eighteenth-century West Indies as it circulated across travel narratives, colonial reports, works of fiction, natural history, and medical treatises.

8 October 2025

Across the more-than-human landscapes of the Malay Peninsula, miracles and histories persist at sites of crumbling graves and the relics of saints whose karamat endure despite encroaching urban redevelopment. This talk traces the ongoing presence of these sacred remains and pilgrimage sites, attending not only to the material ruination of shrines, but also to the devotional worlds that continue to develop around them. 

7 oktober 2025

Op 7 oktober 2025 verdedigt KITLV onderzoeker en historicus Katja Paijens haar proefschrift aan de Universiteit Leiden. Katja schreef als proefschrift een politieke biografie van één van de ‘vergeten’ spelers uit de Onafhankelijkheidsrevolutie van Indonesië (1945-1949): Max Alkadrie (1913-1978), Sultan Hamid II van Pontianak.

2 October 2025

This study examines the changes in agriculture in Bali, revealing a notable paradox. On one hand, Balinese farming is renowned for its strong local traditions, such as Subak, Tri Hita Karana, and various symbolic rituals. These traditions are often celebrated as cultural icons and are even incorporated into tourism. On the other hand, farming in Bali faces significant challenges: fewer people are choosing to become farmers, production costs often exceed income, agricultural land is rapidly being converted for other uses, and numerous other difficulties have emerged.

23 September 2025

Syahirah Rasheed examines the tensions between biomedical and religio-cultural discourses in medicalised childbirth, rooted in the denigration of indigenous midwives and stereotypes of "native" women. 

16 September 2025

The Dravidian pathway is a timely contribution to public and scholarly understanding of South Indian politics, examining a pivotal period in the rise to power of the Tamil Nadu party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (the Dravidian Progressive Federation, or DMK).

8 September 2025

This series, organized by the Chair of Public Anthropology of Kingdom Relations, examines the role of anthropology in our rapidly changing world.

4 September 2025

Throughout Kingston, Jamaica, figures known as “dons” exercise political authority and are seen as legitimate leaders despite their associations with crime and violence.

18 July 2025

In Strangers in the family, Guo-Quan Seng provides a gendered history of settler Chinese community formation in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial period (1816–1942). 

10 July 2025

SEMINAR STARTS AT 16.00 PM AND ENDS AT 17.30 PM (CET)

The presentation discusses a selection of Jamaican contemporary art as after-images of its mid to late century pantheonization project and investment in heroic public sculpture. 

8 July 2025

State and development organizations have long sought private sector investment to help bankroll social projects ranging from household water provision to upgrading transportation infrastructure. In the face of skyrocketing costs of climate change impacts, such groups are increasingly looking to private firms to finance adaptation measures. 

27 juni 2025

Het bestuur van de Vereniging KITLV nodigt haar leden uit voor de Algemene Ledenvergadering 2025 op vrijdag 27 juni a.s. 

19 June 2025 

From the Women of Algiers (1834) painting, postcards of the odalisque, to the photograph of the Afghan Girl (1984), representations of Muslim women have been pervasively captured in various image forms across time. Plotted across the 19^th to 21^st centuries, different technologies have contributed to the exponential reproduction and circulation of Muslim women images, evoking a visuality that highlights intersections of technology, ideology, and geography. In the data turn, a new algorithmic visuality is introduced, yielding new formulations to old paradigms.

12 June 2025

This presentation explores the ecocentric dimensions of South Sulawesi’s customary law (adat) and cosmology, focusing on how local wisdom shapes human–environment relationships. Drawing from Bugis, Makassarese, and Mandarese traditions, it highlights a deep-rooted ethic of reciprocity between humans and nature.

3 June 2025 

The talk explores the discourse of gender empowerment in hypermediated Indonesia, foregrounding the significance of digital citizenship for girls and young women in the face of an increasingly constrained civic space. 

27 May 2025 

The Grondkaart is a map indicating land ownership and control boundaries, created by the Dutch East Indies government. It is currently used in Indonesia to demonstrate land control by the state-owned railway company (PT KAI). The Grondkaart is a piece of paper that should serve only as an archive and artefact of the past, having no legal power in post-colonial Indonesia. 

22 May 2025 

Pranata mangsa has been recognized as a Javanese agricultural calendar that dates to ancient times. While recent studies have presented pranata mangsa as one of the key elements of Javanese traditional ecological knowledge in agriculture; historical documents show Dutch influence of the calendar’s evolution back to the nineteenth century.

21 May

We are pleased to announce that Adrian Perkasa will defend his PhD thesis The cultural network: Javanese imaginings of Indonesia, 1918-1966 on Wednesday, 21 May 2025, at 16:00 CET.

15 May 2025

In Legacies of colonialism in museum collections: The (un)making of Indonesian Islam in the Netherlands Mirjam Shatanawi tells the untold story of Indonesian Islam in museums. Often overshadowed by Hindu-Buddhist art, Indonesian Islamic heritage rarely receives the attention it deserves in museum collections and exhibitions. 

8 May 2025

Prabowo Subianto took office on 20 October 2024. The first six months of his presidency have offered more than just a glimpse into how he plans to use his power to pursue his vision, officially known as Asta Cita, and how that might shape the everyday lives of Indonesians. 

1 May 2025

In recent decades, the declining authority of the Church in Europe has significantly weakened the vitality of Catholic orders in the Netherlands, raising questions about their sustainability amid shifting cultural and religious landscapes. To counteract this trend, many orders have invited foreign missionaries from Asia and Africa to rejuvenate their missions.

24 April 2025

This talk describes Maroon anti-necropolitics and its implications for multispecies justice to aid in creating a genuinely decolonial Caribbean ecological theory. 

17 April 2025

In academia, challenging human superiority in epistemology and ontology is a radical move, but this perspective may not be as radical for Indigenous peoples and forest communities. They view humans as microcosmos within a larger cosmological framework, where humans are not superior to other beings. 

10-11 April

The University of St. Martin will host a two-day workshop and seminar on climate, sustainability and the regional vulnerability with thought leaders from other institutions in the Caribbean.