Dr. Michael Kemper

Biography

Michael Kemper teaches Russian foreign policy and the history of modern Eastern Europe and Eurasia. His research focuses on the historical and contemporary situation of Islam in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, with a particular interest in the interplay of languages and religions, such as Russian-Tatar relations and the dynamics between Orthodox Christianity and Islam. He has directed and co-directed several research projects funded by the NWO and Volkswagen Foundation. As a professor chair of Eastern European Studies, he has overseen four chair groups in European Studies at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), and served as head of the Department of History, European Studies and Religious Studies from 2015 to 2018. His leadership extended to the Amsterdam School of Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES) from 2019 to 2022. Kemper obtained his PhD in 1997 and completed his habilitation in 2003 in the department of Oriental and Islamic Studies at Ruhr University Bochum. He directed a Junior Research Group focusing on Islamic Networks of Education, which produced significant research on Islamic movements and education in various countries. Before coming to UvA, he was an assistant professor in Central Eurasian History at St. Lawrence University in New York.

Research Interests

Experience