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Dr. L.K. (Leonie) Schmidt

Faculty of Humanities
Departement Mediastudies
Photographer: Max de Bree

Visiting address
  • Turfdraagsterpad 9
Postal address
  • Postbus 94550
    1090 GN Amsterdam
Contact details
  • Profile

    Short biography

    Dr. Leonie Schmidt is an Associate Professor in the Media Studies department of the University of Amsterdam and a researcher affiliated with the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis. Her research interests cover elemental media, ecomedia, green cultural studies, de/postcoloniality, popular culture & religion. Leonie is the author of Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia: Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). In her NWO Rubicon & Veni-projects, conducted at SOAS in London (2016-2019), she analyzed how Islamic popular culture negotiates and contests  ‘Islamic radicalisation', while complicating simplistic views of 'radicalisation'. Her current research explores cultural approaches to climate change, specifically focusing on the Global South, much of which is on the front lines of climate change. Leonie has been teaching a wide variety of courses in the Media Studies department since 2009. Leonie supervises several Ph.D. students and is currently the BA Program Director of the Media & Culture and Media & Information programmes. 

    Books

    Schmidt, Leonie (2017) Islamic modernities in Southeast Asia: Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture. Washington DC: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Chow, Yiufai, Jeroen de Kloet, Leonie Schmidt (in production, published: 2024) It’s My Party’ - Tatming and the Postcolonial Politics of Popular Music in Hong Kong. Palgrave.

    Kloos, David, Leonie Schmidt, Mark Westmoreland, Bart Barendregt (2023) Provocative Images in Contemporary Islam. Leiden: Leiden University Press.

    ERC Consolidator Grant

    Eco-Islam in Indonesia: Media, Institutions, Publics
    Innovative solutions to the climate issue are often sought within the natural sciences - technical fixes such as geo-engineering, for example. But climate change is also a problem that the humanities must address. In her project, Schmidt will therefore conduct research into cultural approaches to climate change. She will focus specifically on the Global South, which is on the front lines of climate change, but has been largely ignored in research about cultural approaches while it is precisely in the Global South that we can find creative experiments and cultural approaches to climate issues. In Indonesia, for example, an eco-movement has emerged within Islam in which artists from the world of pop music, films, TV, and social media read the Koran as a ‘green’ book that calls on Muslims to be stewards of the earth. This and other cultural approaches from the Global South will be at the center of Schmidt’s research.

    Individual grants

    ERC Consolidator Grant, 2024-2029 (€ 2.000.000)
    NWO VENI, 2016-2019 (€ 250.000)  
    NWO Rubicon, 2016 (€ 160.000) 

    Education

    Ph.D. in Media Studies, 2014, University of Amsterdam. 
    Research Master in Media Studies, cum laude, 2007-2009, University of Amsterdam.
    Bachelor in Media & Culture, cum laude, 2004-2007, University of Amsterdam.

    Ph.D. Supervision

    2017-2023 (defended), Arnoud Arps, 'Remembering Violence: Cultural Memory, Popular Culture and the Indonesian War of Independence'. ASCA, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    2019-present, Yvette Wong, ‘Wenyi and Its Discontents: A Study of Creative Practices and Politics in Hong Kong’, ASCA, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    2022-present, Hannah Poon, ‘Suriving in Abeyance: Digital Networks and Resistance in Hong Kong after the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement’, ASCA, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    2023-present, Timoteus Kusno,’Dismantling Nostalgia: Art Practices Dealing with Colonial Leftovers’, ASCA, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    2023-present, Brian Trinanda, ‘Traditional Islamic Cosmology and the Making of Cosmological Music’, ASCA, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

     

  • Publications

    2024

    • Schmidt, L. K., de Kloet, B. J., & Chow, Y. F. (in press). ‘It’s My Party’ - Tatming and the Postcolonial Politics of Popular Music in Hong Kong. Palgrave Macmillan.

    2023

    • Kloos, D., Westmoreland, M. R., Schmidt, L., & Barendregt, B. (Eds.) (2023). Provocative Images in Contemporary Islam. (Debates on Islam & Society; Vol. 9). Leiden University Press. [details]
    • Schmidt, L., & Westmoreland, M. R. (2023). Introduction: Provocative Images in Contemporary Islam. In D. Kloos, M. R. Westmoreland, L. Schmidt, & B. Barendregt (Eds.), Provocative Images in Contemporary Islam (pp. 9-23). (Debates on Islam & Society; Vol. 9). Leiden University Press. Advance online publication. [details]

    2021

    2020

    • Chow, Y. F., de Kloet, J., & Schmidt, L. (2020). Performing the Political: Reflections on Tatming Meeting George Orwell in 2017. In A. Fung, & A. Chik (Eds.), Made in Hong Kong: Studies in Popular Music (pp. 168-180). (Routledge Global Popular Music Series). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429276439-20 [details]

    2018

    • Schmidt, L. (2018). Unearthing the Past and Re-imagining the Present: Contemporary Art and Muslim Politics in a Post-9/11 world. In C. Hudson, & B. Barendregt (Eds.), Globalization and Modernity in Asia: Performative Moments (pp. 71-88). (Asian Visual Cultures; Vol. 3). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462981126_ch05 [details]

    2017

    2016

    • Schmidt, L. (2016). Modern Manuals and Islamic Inspiration: Negotiating Modernity in Malyasian Islamic-themed Cinema. In D. Black, O. Khoo, & K. Iwabuchi (Eds.), Contemporary Culture and Media in Asia (pp. 91-110). (Asian Cultural Studies: Transnational and Dialogic Approaches). London: Rowman & Littlefield. [details]

    Prize / grant

    • Schmidt, L. (2023). ERC Consolidator Grant.

    Others

    • Schmidt, L. (other) (2023). Eco-media in Indonesia: Investigating the potential of Islamic media and popular cultural practices in the battle against climate change (other).
    • Schmidt, L. (other) (10-2021). NWO VIDI application: Eco-Islam in Indonesia: Investigating the potential of Islamic cultural practices in the battle against climate change (other).
    • Schmidt, L. (other) (2021). ERC St. grant application: Eco-Islam and Creation Care in Indonesia: Countering Climate Change Through Islamic Cultural Practices (other).
    • Yamomo, m. (organiser), Titus, B. (organiser), de Kloet, J. (participant), Margana, S. (participant), Aryandari, C. (participant), Barendregt, B. (participant), Buenconsejo, J. (participant), Birdsall, C. (participant), Schmidt, L. (participant), Chow, Y. (participant), Ajotikar, R. (participant), Spiller, H. (participant), de Jesus, R. (participant) & Kuitenbrouwer, V. (participant) (9-9-2019). Sonic Entanglements, Hilversum. This workshop gathers together scholars of history, anthropology, ethnomusicology, performance studies, media studies, and psychology working on/in (…) (organising a conference, workshop, ...).
    • Nadkarni, D. (participant), Titus, B. (participant) & Schmidt, L. (participant) (10-6-2019). ASCA Award Committee (other). https://aihr.uva.nl/content/news/2019/06/asca-awards.html

    2023

    This list of publications is extracted from the UvA-Current Research Information System. Questions? Ask the library or the Pure staff of your faculty / institute. Log in to Pure to edit your publications. Log in to Personal Page Publication Selection tool to manage the visibility of your publications on this list.
  • Ancillary activities
    No ancillary activities