Dr. Peter Verkinderen

Photo: © UHH/ Naue
former Research Associate
Islamic Studies
Address
Contact
Key aspects of activity
- Fars; Geographic Information Systems (GIS); Digital Humanities; Prosopographical Database
Peter Verkinderen is now a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the KITAB project at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilization at the Aga Khan University in London. For further information, please refer to his Aga Khan website.
Profile
I studied first Classics, and then Oriental Languages and Cultures at the university of my native town Ghent, Belgium. In 2005, I started a PhD project at Ghent University, which aimed at reconstructing the early Islamic landscape of southern Iraq and neighbouring Khuzestan, focused mainly on the river and irrigation systems. I cooperated closely with an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, geologists and remote sensing specialists, which proved extremely fruitful. I received my PhD in October 2009.
I have worked in Egypt for nearly five years (2009-2014), as the Assistant Director at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC), where I was responsible for the teaching programs and research activities of the Arabic and Islamic Studies branch. My time in Egypt was made extraordinarily intense by the January 2011 revolution and its aftermath.
Since May 2014, I am working in the ERC project “The Early Islamic Empire at Work: The View from the Regions toward the Centre” at the University of Hamburg, where I am responsible for the key region of Fars, in Iran.
My research interests include historical geography, material culture and cartography of the early Islamic period. Methodologically, I believe in the power of interdisciplinary team work, and I’m interested in the use of digital tools to widen the possibilities of textual and geographical research.
Apart from my work at the University of Hamburg, I am still involved in research in Khuzestan, with Jan Walstra and Vanessa Heyvaert at the Geological Survey of Belgium. I am also working on a long-term project about the manuscripts and maps of al-Istakhri and Ibn Hawqal.
Most of my publications are available online at uni-hamburg.academia.edu/PeterVerkinderen
CV
Since May 2014 |
Post-doctoral researcher in the ERC project “The Islamic Empire at Work” |
2012 |
Interim Director, The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo |
2009-2014 |
Assistant Director for Arabic and Islamic Studies, The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo |
2005-2009 |
PhD in Oriental Languages and Cultures, Ghent University |
2001-2004 |
MA in Oriental Languages and Cultures, Ghent University |
1997-2001 |
MA in Greek and Latin Literature and Linguistics, Ghent University |
1979 |
born in Ghent, Belgium |
Publications
Simon Gundelfinger & Peter Verkinderen. “The Governors of al-Shām and Fārs in the Early Islamic Empire – A Comparative Regional Perspective”. Transregional and Regional Elites: Connecting the Early Islamic Empire. Hg. Hannah-Lena Hagemann & Stefan Heidemann (eds.). Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020
José Haro Peralta & Peter Verkinderen. ““Find for me!”: Building a context-based search tool using Python”. The Digital Humanities and Islamic & Middle East Studies. Hg. Elias Muhanna (ed.),. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016 http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/432146?rskey=XpSe72
[ more ]
Verkinderen, Peter. Waterways of Lower Iraq and Khuzistan. Changing Rivers and Landscapes in the Early Islamic Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris, 2015.
Regulski, I., Duistermaat, K., Verkinderen, P (Hg.). Seals and Sealing Practices in the Near East. Developments in Administration and Magic from Prehistory to the Islamic Period. Leuven: Peeters, 2012.
Heyvaert, V. M. A., Walstra, J., Verkinderen, P., Weerts, H., & Ooghe, B. “The role of human interference on the channel shifting of the Karkheh River in the Lower Khuzestan plain (Mesopotamia, SW Iran)”. Quarternary International 251/1. (2012): S. 52-63.