Craig Thorburn
Senior Lecturer
Beginning as an appropriate technology volunteer in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi in 1975, I have spent more than 20 years in Indonesia working with village communities, local, national and international NGOs, provincial and national government agencies, and bilateral and multilateral aid organisations. During the 1990s, I returned to the University of California to pursue an advanced degree that could incorporate my hands-on experience within a broader theoretical and comparative perspective, eventually opting for Geography as the discipline that most effectively pulled together the diverse ways of knowing that I had encountered, that would help me to explore the links between social and ecological processes, institutional structures and economic activity. I completed my MA thesis on the policy-driven forest loss in Indonesia in 1996, and PhD on customary coastal and marine resource management in the Kei Islands, eastern Indonesia, in 2000, both at UCLA.
I have been at Monash University since 2003, where I coordinate the Masters in International Development and Environmental Analysis (M.IDEA).
My vision is to create and manage a program that will serve a new generation of development practitioners and scholars who are critically engaged and committed to sustainable development, resiliency, and good environmental governance. The IDEA program is an attempt to bring together the practical skills and theoretical knowledge needed to address the complex issues that confront communities, governments and agencies in developing countries today.
My teaching
I currently coordinate and teach two core units of the M.IDEA course-based masters program: APG4627: Research in Political Ecology, which introduces the analytical approach that the IDEA program brings to problems of regional and international development and ecological change, APG4628: Doctrines of Development, which provides a critical overview of the history of development discourse and theory, and APG5805: The Art and Business of International Development, which critically examines historical trends in international development and introduces the actors, procedures and processes that characterise ‘the development business’. As well, I teach a second-year GES and Global Studies subject entitled ATS2628: Power and Poverty: International Development in a Globalised World.
My research
My current research interests centre on issues of climate change adaptation and mitigation, governance, resiliency, and community engagement in natural resource management and processes of institutional and economic change, primarily in Indonesia and other South and Southeast Asian countries. I am also involved in consulting work both in Australia and abroad, primarily dealing with institutional capacity development to address poverty and environmental degradation. Experiences gained from my consulting work helps keep the IDEA program abreast of emerging trends and problems in the international development sector.
Research Supervision
I supervise students working on a range of topics relating to development, environmental and natural resources management in various regions of the world.
PhD completions
- Herlina Hartanto: Adaptability of Customary Forest Institutions in Kerinci, Central Sumatra, Indonesia
- Arisetiarso Soemodinoto: Relationship between Tourism in National Parks and Community-based Conservation: A Case Study of West Bali National Park, Indonesia
Current PhD students
- Lisa Elford: The Social Geography of Bare Life: Refugees and Human Rights in South Africa
- Rasita Purba: Decentralised Education Policies in Indonesia: A Case Study of Two Districts in Lombok
- Alberto Nicotra: Foreign Direct Investment in Biofuel Production: An Institutional Assessment of United Kingdom and Italian Investment in Jatropha curcas production in Africa
- Saadia Majeed: Ecosystem Management in Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangladesh
MA Research completions
- Usman Shah: Bringing Order to the Jangal: State Building, Social Change, and International Intervention in Afghanistan's Kunduz River Basin
Current MA research students
- Mark Thompson: Transboundary Water Governance in the Mekong: Mediating Conflict or Cooperation?
Publications
Journal Articles
| 2009 | Livelihood Recovery in the Wake of the Tsunami in Aceh, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 45(1): 69-89 |
| 2004 | The plot thickens - Land administration and policy in post-New Order Indonesia, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 45(1): 33-49. |
| 2002 | Regime Change ~ Prospects for Community-Based Resource Management in Post-New Order Indonesia, Society and Natural Resources 15(10): 617-628. |
| 2001 | The House that Poison Built: Cyanide Fishing in the Kei Islands, Indonesia, Development and Change 32(1): 151-180. |
| 2000 | Sasi Lola in the Kei Islands, Indonesia: An Endangered Marine Resource Management Tradition, World Development 28(8): 1461-1480. |
Books & Book Chapters
| 2010 | Village Government in Aceh, Three Years after the Tsunami, in M. Clarke, I. Fanany and S. Kenny, eds. Post-Disaster Reconstruction: Lessons from Aceh. Pp. 126-54. London: Earthscan. |
| 2009 | Maluku: The Long Road to Recovery, in B.P. Resosudarmo and F. Jotzo, eds. Working with Nature against Poverty: Development, Resources and the Environment in Eastern Indonesia. Pp. 269-304. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |
| 2008 | Adat, Conflict and Reconciliation: The Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku, in Tim Lindsey, ed. Indonesia: Law and Society. Sydney: The Federation Press. Pp. 115-43. |
| 2005 | Musibah: Governance, Intercommunal Violence and Reinventing Tradition in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku. Monash University Centre for Southeast Asian Studies Occasional Paper Series. |
| 2004 | Musibah - Penguasaan Sumberdaya, Tindak Kekerasan & Penemuan Kembali Tradisi di Kei in P.M. Laksono and R. Topatimasang, eds. Ken Sa Faak: Benih-behih perdamaian dari Kepulauan Kei. Pp. 177-241. Yogyakarta: Insist Press. |
| 1982 | Teknologi Kampungan: A Collection of Indigenous Indonesian Technologies. Stanford, CA: VIA-Tuttle. |
| 1982 | Rice Husks as a Fuel. Jakarta: PT Tekton Books. |
Commissioned Research Reports
| 2010 | Multi-stakeholder Review of Post-conflict Programming in Aceh(with Cameron Noble, Patrick Barron and Wasi Abbas). Jakarta: The World Bank |
| 2009 | Yes We Can: Field Schools for Watershed Resilience and Health. Jakarta: Development Alternatives Inc. and USAID |
| 2009 | Kami Bisa! Sekolah Lapangan untuk Ketahanan Daerah Aliran Sungai dan Kesehatan. Jakarta: FIELD Indonesia |
| 2007 | The Acehnese Gampong, Three Years On: Assessing Local Capacity and Reconstruction Assistance in Post-tsunami Aceh. Jakarta: AusAID |
| 2000 | Indonesia: Agriculture and Rural Sector Strategy Mission (with Bruce Short, Roger Montgomery, Graham Baines and Fuad Cholik). Melbourne, ACIL Pty Ltd, and AusAID. |
| 1998 | Experiences in Institutionalizing Participatory Approaches in GoI Departments (with Methodius Kusumohadi). Ujung Pandang, DELIVERI Project. |
| 1994 | The Cultural and Political Context of Mapping Indigenous Forest Tenure Systems in Indonesia. Washington, DC: Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) Discussion Paper. |
Community and Media Publications
| 2003 | Fatal Adaptation: Cyanide Fishing in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku, SPC Live Reef Fish Information Bulletin (11): 2-11. |
| 1998 | Southern California’s Boat People: Vietnamese Commercial Fishermen in LA and Ventura Counties, ISOP Intercom 20(3): 1-13. |
| 1998 | Sasi Lola in the Kei Islands: An Endangered Marine Resource Management Tradition, Jurnal Pesisir Dan Lautan 1(2): 15-29. |
| 1989 | Indonesian NGOs Promote Community Participation in Development, Asia Foundation Quarterly 4(2): 3-5. |
| 1984 | Pesantren – living example of self-reliance spirit, Jakarta Post, 28 December 1984. |
| 1979 | Teknologi Tepat Guna untuk Masyarakat Pedesaan, Majalah Pesan 1(3): 3-14. |
Conference Presentations
| 2011 | The REDD Rush in Indonesia. Thirteenth International Meeting of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC). Hyderabad, India, January 2011. |
| 2010 | Managing Post-conflict Reintegration and Development in Aceh: To BRA or not to BRA. Conference on Government and Development, Deakin University, Universitas Negeri Padang, Universitas Andalas and IAIN Imam Bonjol, Padang, West Sumatra, December 2010 |
| 2010 | Seeing the Forest for the Carbon: Will REDD Schemes Lead to Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation? Reconceptualising Development Conference, Deakin University, Melbourne, October 2010. |
| 2008 | Village Government in Aceh, after the Tsunami, the MoU, LOGA and the 2006-07 Elections, UC Berkeley & UCLA Joint Conference on Southeast Asian Studies Conference on Ten Years After: Reformasi and New Social Movements in Indonesia, 1998-2008. Berkeley CA, April 2008 |
| 2008 | Drivers of Recovery: Tsunami Recovery in Aceh, Indonesia, Three Years On, International Group for Research and Information on Post-Disaster Reconstruction (I-Rec) Biennial Conference on Building Resilience: Achieving Effective Post-disaster Reconstruction. Christchurch, NZ, April-May 2008 |
| 2007 | The Arthropod Revolution: Community IPM in Indonesia, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), San Francisco, CA, April 2007 |
| 2006 | Provincial Government and Local Community Endeavours to Reform Village (Negeri) Government in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia Eleventh International Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP). Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, July 2006. |
| 2005 | A Long Row to Hoe: Decentralization, Reformasi, and Land Management Policy in Indonesia, Tenth International Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP), Oaxaca, Mexico, July 2004. |
| 2003 | The Plot Thickens: Land Policy Reform, Resource Management and Decentralisation in Indonesia, paper presented at the RCSD Southeast Asia Regional Meeting on Common Property. Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 2003. |
| 2002 | Musibah: Entitlements, Violence and Reinventing Tradition in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku, paper presented at the 9th International Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP). Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, June 2002. |
| 2001 | Regime Change ~ Prospects for Community-Based Resource Management in Post New Order Indonesia, paper presented at the Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP). Brisbane, Australia, September 2001. |
| 1999 | Noble Savage Meets Evil Empire: The Live Fish Industry in the Kei Islands, Maluku, Indonesia. Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Honolulu HI, March 1999. |
| 1999 | Pengalaman dan Sikap Maslyarakat Kepulauan terhadap Berkembangnya Industri Penangkapan Ikan Hidup dengan Menggunakan Bius: Telaah Kasus di Wilayah Kepulauan Kei, Maluku Tenggara, (The Experiences and Reactions of Island Communities Facing the Invasion of the Cyanide Fishing Industry: Analysis of Cases in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku). National Congress of Indonesian Adat Communities, Jakarta, March 1999. |
| 1997 | Whose Seas are These? Traditional Coastal and Marine Tenure in a Time of Increasing State Control and Accelerating Capitalization of Indonesian Fisheries. Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Fort Worth TX, April 1997. |
| 1996 | Traditional Resource Management and Conservation: The Case of Sasi in Maluku, Indonesia. Annual Meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Sacramento CA, June 1996. |
| 1995 | Unity, Diversity and Inter-generational Conflict in Late New Order Indonesia. Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Washington, DC, April 1995. |
| 1995 | Is There Political Space for Village Mapmakers in New Order Indonesia? Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Chicago IL, March 1995. |
Address
- Room No: W503B, Menzies Building
- Telephone Number: +61 3 990 59319
- Craig.Thorburn@monash.edu