Dr. Michael Kemper

Biography

Michael Kemper teaches Russian foreign policy and the history of modern Eastern Europe and Eurasia at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the history and present-day situation of Islam in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, as well as the history of Orientalism and Oriental Studies in Europe. He has a special interest in the interaction of languages and religions, particularly among Russian Tatar, Orthodox Christianity, and Islam, and he utilizes Oriental (Arabic and Turkic) sources for his studies of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Kemper has directed and co-directed research projects funded by the NWO and the Volkswagen Foundation. He holds the professorship in Eastern European Studies and oversees four chair groups in European Studies at UvA. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the head of the Department of History, European Studies and Religious Studies and directed the Amsterdam School of Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES) from 2019 to 2022. Kemper earned his PhD in 1997 and habilitation in 2003 from the Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies at Ruhr University Bochum. He closely collaborated with Professor Stefan Reichmuth in directing Junior Research Group 'Islamic Networks of Education (18th-20th Centuries)', which received support from the Volkswagen Foundation and produced several dissertations between 1998 and 2007. Prior to joining UvA, Kemper was an assistant professor of Central Eurasian History at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. He is also a member of the editorial boards of journals such as Die Welt des Islams (Brill) and Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques (De Gruyter).

Research Interests