Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
Meet our staff
Dr. J. Bruning
Jelle Bruning is a University Lecturer at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. Jelle Bruning specializes in the social and intellectual history of early-Islamic Egypt (ca. 640-1000 CE). He works extensively with documentary sources in Arabic, Coptic, and Greek and contemporary literary texts. View his full profile here.
Prof. dr. L.P.H.M. Buskens
Léon Buskens is an anthropologist studying law and culture in Muslim societies. One of his main research interests is how Muslims shape Islam in everyday life, in relation to other practices and to religious teachings. He has a longstanding interest in Morocco, and has more recently also started to do some research in Indonesia (focusing on Maluku and Papua) for comparative purposes. View his full profile here.
Prof.dr. P.M. Sijpesteijn
Petra Sijpesteijn is professor of Arabic. Her research concentrates on recovering the experiences of Muslims and non-Muslims living under Islamic rule, using the vast stores of radically under-used documents surviving from the early Islamic world. Starting in 2017, she manages an international research project entitled "Embedding Conquest: Naturalising Muslim Rule in the Early Islamic Empire (600-1000)", funded by the European Research Council. View her full profile here.
Dr. M. Warnaar
Maaike Warnaar is an University Lecturer. She is interested in Foreign relations of Iran, Iranian history, Pahlavi Studies, methodologies in the social science and humanities. Her current research focuses on Netherlands-Iran relations (1959-1979). View her full profile here.
Prof.dr. E.J. Zurcher
Erik-Jan Zürcher is professor emeritus. He is primarily interested in the period of transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey (roughly: 1880-1950) and in the role of the Young Turk generation/movement in this process. In his view the key to an understanding of the emergence of modern Turkey lies in linking the processes of forced migration, war, the imperial legacy and nation building. View his full profile here.