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Carool Kersten (b. 1964) is a historian of religion currently working as a lecturer in Islamic Studies at King's College London, where he is associated with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and the programme of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies.

Education
From 1982 until 1987, Carool Kersten studied Arabic Language and Culture at the Institute for the Study of the Languages and Cultures of the Middle East (TCMO) at the Catholic University Nijmegen in the Netherlands (now Radboud University Nijmegen). Specializing in modern Middle East Studies and Islamic Studies, with minors in International Law and Indonesian, he was awarded the equivalent of an MA in Arabic Language and Culture (cum laude) on the basis of a dissertation on the theory and practice of the Islamic law of treaties. In 1995-1996, he did graduate work in philosophy at his Alma Mater. During another sabbatical in 2001, he studied Thai and Southeast Asian Studies at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Between 2005 and 2009, he was a postgraduate research student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London), where he obtained a PhD in the Study of Religions. His thesis, 'Occupants of the Third Space: New Muslim Intellectuals and the Study of Islam (Nurcholish Madjid, Hasan Hanafi, Mohammed Arkoun), deals with the contributions of three contemporary Muslim scholars to the rethinking of approaches and methodologies in Islamic Studies as a field of scholarly inquiry.

Career
In August 1988, Carool Kersten joined the construction and engineering company Ballast Nedam Group, one of the Netherlands major international contractors. In 1989 he was transferred to Saudi Arabia to provide support for the company's operations in the Middle East. His first assignment was with the Al-Yamamah Programme Office, which was coordinating a major infrastructure project for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). He then joined the head office in Riyadh as an assistant to the general director. From 1990 until 1993 he served as the general services officer on the Air Base Facilities Project on King Abdul Aziz Air Base in Dhahran, the country's main air base located in the Eastern Province. There he witnessed the Gulf War of 1990-1991, as the air operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm where primarily coordinated from there. After a brief stint at King Khalid Military City (KKMC) in Hafar al-Batin, he returned to the head office in Riyadh until 1995.

After a sabbatical year in The Netherlands, he returned to Saudi Arabia in November 1996, acting as personnel and general services manager for Ballast Nedam Group's Middle East operations, a position he held until his resignation in December 2000. He remained connected to the company for another three years as a freelance consultant and translator.

After another sabbatical, this time in Thailand during which he obtained a certificate in Thai and Southeast Asian Studies, he was appointed a faculty member in the International Programs Office of Payap Universityin Chiang Mai. Here he taught courses on Southeast Asian history and religions from 2002 until 2006. In addition he served as the academic director of Lexia International, a US-based organization facilitating study-abroad programs in thirteen countries. He also conducted independent research on Southeast Asian history, publishing studies and translations of two historical travel accounts in Dutch.

In the meantime he had started his postgraduate studies at the Department for the Study of Religions of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), working under the supervision of Professor Christopher Shackle. It was while writing his thesis that he was recruited by King's College London. He was appointed lecturer in Islamic Studies in September 2007.

Publications

 * Strange Events in the Kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos (1635-1644))(Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2003)
 * Dr. Muller's Asian Journey (1907-1909): Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Yunnan (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2005)