Kate Mokránová is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Area Studies.

More information about Kate Mokránová

Katarína (Kate) Mokránová is a PhD candidate in the NWO-funded VICI project Land, Space, Power: Landscapes of the Early Caliphate, led by Prof. Petra Sijpesteijn. Her research examines the spatiality and materiality of early Islamic burial practices in West Asia and North Africa (c. 650–1250 CE), exploring how funerary landscapes developed across time and space. By examining the placement, distribution, and construction of burials, and situating these within the context of earlier regional traditions, she investigates burial practice as a discursive process and an act of place-making.

Working at the intersection of archaeology and Arabic studies, Kate specialises in Islamic archaeology, with particular interests in funerary archaeology, landscape and heritage studies, and digital methods (e.g. GIS, spatial analysis). Her research draws on a background in the archaeology of the Classical and post-Classical periods, with a focus on material culture and its broader social and political contexts.

Kate holds a BA in Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations from Durham University (UK) and a Research MA (cum laude) in the Archaeology of the Near East and Mediterranean from Leiden University (NL). She has held research assistant positions with several interdisciplinary projects, including the Circular Economy and Urban Sustainability Project at the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University. She also worked on the Rural Riches project (post-Roman northwestern Europe) and the Leiden Islamic Jerash Project, analysing Byzantine-Islamic pottery from Jerash (funded by NINO, Leiden). In addition, she has experience in educational support and data management.

PhD Project title: ‘Caliphal Deathscapes’: Analysing Muslim and non-Muslim burial practices in West Asia and North Africa (650-1250 CE)

Supervisor: Prof. Petra Sijpesteijn, Leiden University
Co-supervisor: Prof. Corisande Fenwick, University College London

Publications