International Students in Leiden Across the Centuries

For centuries, international students have been key participants in Leiden’s scholarly community. This post is aimed at sharing some of the diverse international students who have participated in, and enriched, Leiden’s academic environment over the years.

Krista A. Milne • April 08, 2025

A Literary Answer to Inadequate Legal Definitions of Ground and Soil

In this entry, Frans-Willem Korsten explores the need for a sensible legal definition of ground and soil. Inspired by popular culture and academic texts, Korsten advocates for literary sensibilities in the political task of creating definitions that reflect ground and soil’s living nature.

Frans-Willem Korsten • November 12, 2024

Who Exactly is Mad? A Reflection on the Theme of Madness in Dickinson (2019)

Mental illness has long been a source of curiosity and reflection. The TV series Dickinson (2019), created by Alena Smith, explores the theme of madness, inviting the audience to reflect on who exactly we label as mad and why, as it draws links between the past and the present.

Chiara Ravinetto • October 09, 2024

The Book of Jackson

Pop music is not known for its literary allusions. For the educated listener, however, some songs by quintessential pop artist Michael Jackson contain references that completely transform their meaning. This blog will focus on his lyrical interaction with the most famous book of all: the Bible.

Ruben Poelstra • September 20, 2024

Extinction rebellion, the struggle for law, and the role of the arts – or scholars

In this entry, Professor of Literature, Culture and Law, Frans-Willem Korsten reflects upon the struggle for law and the role of the arts in the midst of the current Extinction Rebellion protest at the A12 motorway in The Hague, September 2023.

Frans-Willem Korsten • September 15, 2023

The History of VR – An Ancient Pursuit

When did humanity first begin to create the sensation of being in VR? Miguel Mira reflects on the history of the medium, considering Oliver Grau’s theory on the immersive qualities of the Villa dei Misteri all the way to Morton Heilig’s Sensorama machine.

Miguel Mira • June 09, 2023

Mapping Gendered Agency in Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929)

Digital Humanities gives us tools to analyze stories. But what kind of insights do we really gain from them? In this blog, Lyna Meyrer will use the experimental modernist novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) to show what digital cartography reveals about this complex story of human relationships.

Lyna Meyrer • April 13, 2023

Who was Amsir? A Colonial Portrait by Jan Veth (1864-1925)

In the exhibition on Dutch artist Jan Veth, which recently opened at the Dordrechts Museum, Veth’s colonial work is made visible. In this blog Nick Tomberge uses Veth’s Portrait of Amsir (1922), on display at the exhibition, to discuss how the museum presents the colonial past to the general public.

Nick Tomberge • March 05, 2023

“A Weasel is Wild. Who knows what he thinks?” A reading of Annie Dillard’s “Living like Weasels” (1982)

In this post, LUCAS lecturer Jessie Morgan-Owens revisits an essay that is a joy to teach: “Living like Weasels” by Annie Dillard (1982). This essay invites us to imagine life outside the binary of culture/nature, and asks, what would it be like to live only for necessity, like a weasel?

Jessie Morgan-Owens • February 15, 2023

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