PhD position in Arabic Studies / Oral History and Arabian Traditions

This PhD position at Leiden University is part of the ERC-funded GeoPo project, which investigates Arabia at the dawn of Islam (c. 500–650 CE) through an interdisciplinary approach combining textual, geographical, and anthropological methods. The project focuses on the role of oral traditions in preserving knowledge of place, history, and identity in central Arabian communities. The successful candidate will conduct fieldwork in Saudi Arabia, gathering and analysing oral histories, toponymic knowledge, and poetic traditions, and will develop an original doctoral project on the transmission and function of memory in Arabian societies.

What you will do

PhD Position: Oral History and Arabian Traditions
The PhD project employs anthropological methods to examine the knowledge traditions preserved orally amongst present-day local communities in central Arabia. The survival of place names from pre-Islamic times to the present day, the transmission of geographic knowledge amongst local communities, and understanding the uses and meanings of toponyms and places for local populations is a lynchpin of GeoPo and am unstudied feature of the intangible heritage of central Arabian communities. GeoPo will gather vital data through interviews with local people and offers an opportunity to explore these peoples’ sense of place and memories of ancient history.

The PhD candidate will participate in the fieldwork campaigns to help the team discover the places named in pre-Islamic poetry. During this fieldwork, the PhD candidate will pay close attention to the strategies local groups employ to remember toponyms, how they understand and interact with their environment, and the types of memories associated with places and the classic poetry of pre-Islamic times. Working with teams from the Heritage Commission of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture specialised in recording intangible heritage of local communities, the PhD candidate will evaluate the nature of knowledge about pre-Islamic Arabia, its poetry and history retained in tribal and other communal traditions. The PhD candidate will then, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Webb, formulate a doctoral dissertation project analysing significant aspects of oral memory and/or toponymic/geographical knowledge as a new contribution to the field of knowledge on Arabian tribal societies and their oral traditions. The nature of the project will depend on the results of the interviews, and as such interviews have not yet been undertaken by any academics, there is a wide scope to formulate the doctoral project. Aspects of the project could include the following:

• comparison of oral traditions with the recorded literary traditions for the history of pre-Islamic Arabia;
• examining the spread of a corpus of famous stories about the pre-Islamic past across a wide range of different locales and communities (e.g. Zir Salem, Kulayb ibn Rabi’ah and the Basus War, or the Dahis and Ghabra War);
• examining the transmission and retention of toponyms and geographic knowledge among local communities;
• examining the ways in which poetry, including but not limited to pre-Islamic poetry, is used to transmit memory and shape local identities;
• evaluating the uses and functions of pre-Islamic poetry and pre-Islamic history in the identity of local communities.

Key responsibilities

• Conducting interviews with local populations in Saudi Arabia to identify locations of places named in pre-Islamic poetry;
• Assisting the team in interpreting the poetry and identifying toponyms to search during the fieldwork;
• Developing a project for the doctoral dissertation that involves devising methods and conducting interviews with local populations to answer the thesis question;
• Completing a PhD thesis (in English) within four years;
• Contributing to the project’s database and digital resources;
• Collaborating with the Heritage Commission’s specialists on intangible heritage;
• Publishing at least two (co-authored) articles in peer-reviewed journals;
• Presenting papers at scholarly workshops and conferences;
• Participating in the PhD training program of the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) and the Leiden Graduate School of Humanities;
• Participating in the PhD community and intellectual life of the LIAS Institute;
• The candidate will undertake some teaching in the second and third years of the PhD project.

Where you will work
This PhD position is part of the ERC-funded project GeoPo, which examines the history of Arabia around the dawn of Islam (c.500-650 CE) via an interdisciplinary approach that employs Arabic poetry, Arabian geography and topography, inscriptions in Arabic proto-Arabic, and Thamudic, and anthropological approaches to study communal oral traditions. GeoPo is the first project of its kind to employ the full range of local sources to reconstruct the society and politics of Late Antique Arabia. By combining fieldwork in Saudi Arabia with close analysis of Arabic poetry, GeoPo will demonstrate the vital role of poetry as an authentic and essential source to understand Arabian history at Islam’s beginnings. More information about the project can be found here.

The GeoPo project is hosted by the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), which comprises the School of Asian Studies, the School of Middle Eastern Studies, and the School of Religious Studies. The institute is committed to a contemporary approach to Area Studies, integrating disciplinary and regional-historical perspectives with a strong foundation in advanced language proficiency.

What you bring

• You hold a ResMA or MA with a specialisation in anthropology;
• Your ResMA or MA should be awarded by the time of appointment with a grade of 8.0 or above (out of ten), i.e. with a level of distinction or equivalent from your institution. If your MA thesis is not yet complete, we ask you to provide details of your supervisor in your application letter so we can contact them to ascertain your progress;
• You are willing to work for c.3 months per year in fieldwork with the GeoPo project team in Saudi Arabia in years 1 and 2, and willing to undertake fieldwork in year 3 dedicated to your research project;
• You have mother-tongue or otherwise fluent Arabic language skills and are comfortable to conduct interviews with local populations who only speak Arabic;
• You can understand and record local Nabati poetry and oral historical traditions based on spoken interviews with local populations;
• You have full professional working proficiency in English (speaking, writing, reading);
• You have well developed research skills, including a proven track-record in working independently and in devising your own research questions and delivering a research project to answer them;
• You are interested in the history and heritage of ancient Arabia;
• You have the ability to complete the PhD thesis within four years.

What we offer
A position as an employed PhD candidate, 4 years (1.0 FTE, 38 hrs per week; alternatively, the position can be 0.8 FTE for 5 years), starting date 1 September 2026. Initially the employee will receive a 14-month contract, with extension for the following 34 months on condition of a positive evaluation. The appointment must lead to the completion of a PhD thesis. Salary range from € 3.059-3.881 gross per month for a full-time (1.0 FTE) appointment (the pay scale for PhD candidates is determined in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities). Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3%), training and career development. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. For more information, see http://www.workingat.leiden.edu/.

What we value
Fostering an inclusive community is a central element of the values and vision of Leiden University. Leiden University is committed to becoming an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected and to develop their full potential. Diversity in experiences and perspectives enriches our teaching and strengthens our research. High quality teaching and research is inclusive.

Want to apply or find out more?
Please submit your application online (in English) via the online recruitment system, using the application button on this page. The application deadline is 30 April 2026. Applications received by email will not be considered. In order to be considered applications must include the following items:

• Letter of application with a motivation statement (not more than 1000 words) in which you (i) describe your special interest in the PhD project and (ii) formulate how a researcher can use oral traditions to analyse a community's identity;
• Your CV, listing education to date, your employment history, language skills, and other academic achievements (e.g. conference papers given, publications, organisation of academic events);
• Names, positions, and contact details of two referees. Do not supply reference letters with your application. Please list your referees in your CV; do not add them on the application system;
• A copy of your MA-thesis, or a writing sample if your MA thesis is not yet complete;
• Transcript of your university grades to date for all courses taken; and
• A copy of your MA certificate, or, if you do not yet have your MA, the contact details of your MA supervisor.

Online interviews will take place in early June, 2026. Enquiries can be made to the Principal Investigator of the GeoPo Project, Dr. Peter Webb (p.a.webb@hum.leidenuniv.nl).