ISIM Chair at Utrecht University Professor Martin van Bruinessen

Abstract

Martin van Bruinessen initially studied theoretical physics and mathematics, only later turning to anthropology and Islamic studies. When still a student in physics, he took a number of long trips to the MiddleEast that aroused his lasting interest in the region. He then followed courses in anthropology and started learning Turkish and Persian. After a few years as a mathematics teacher, he received a research grant for fieldwork among the Kurds, which allowed him to spend two years in the Kurdish-inhabited arts of Iran, Iraq, Iran and Syria. He received his PhD from Utrecht University in 1978, with a thesis on the social and political organization of Kurdistan. One of the major themes in this thesis concerns the social and political roles of Sufi orders (especially Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya) among the Kurds. This work was established as one of the key texts on Kurdish society, and it was translated into various languages, including Turkish, Kurdish and Persian.