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Professor Peter Pels is Professor in Anthropology of Africa at Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University

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Oscar Salemink (1958-2023) – a Personal Tribute

My dear friend Oscar Salemink died in Copenhagen on September 23 after a prolonged struggle with myeloma cancer. He was outstandingly generous, mischievously funny, and an indomitably social anthropologist to the end.

Peter Pels • October 30, 2023

Data Management in Qualitative Social Science: The Impact of the Leiden Statement

How do anthropologists go about data management? In the second contribution on our series on impact, Peter Pels reflects on the international uptake of the "Leiden statement".

Peter Pels • March 14, 2019

Future heritage? The 'Historic Urban Landscape' approach in Zanzibar and Amsterdam

What can Zanzibar Town in Tanzania learn about managing world heritage from Amsterdam, and vice versa? At least one thing: that intangible heritage is not a matter of the past, and that its purpose - its future – may ‘conserve’ it most effectively.

Peter Pels • February 11, 2016

Hysterical Heritage? Reflections on the Dutch King’s Golden Carriage

The anthropology of material culture teaches us what things can do to people. But do we understand the cultural effects of a hysterical object like the Dutch monarchy’s Golden Carriage?

Peter Pels • September 28, 2015 • 2 comments

One of us: Tarik Z. and Conspiracy Culture

Should we view Tarik Z., who tried to hold the Dutch national television news hostage, as a would-be terrorist? To me, he represents something more humdrum, ordinary, and closer to home: latter-day conspiracy thinking.

Peter Pels • February 10, 2015

The Future as a Humanist Ideology

On the 26th and 27th of June an international conference in Leiden brought together critical insights into “The Future” as a humanist ideal. The desire for a better, more peaceful and more plentiful life for all humans may not be as innocent as it seems.

Peter Pels • September 08, 2014

Ethnographic fieldwork in the 21st Century

Fieldwork in the 21th Century: Safeguard your splendid isolation by means of Britney Spears!

Peter Pels • November 12, 2013 • 2 comments