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 was invited to join the Monash Faculty of Arts in February 2003 to coordinate the newly established program in International Development and Environmental Analysis.
My vision is to create 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: IDA4230: Research and Analysis in Political Ecology which introduces the analytical approach that the IDEA program brings to problems of regional and international development and ecological change, and IDA 5220: 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 and third year Global Studies subject entitled INT 2065/3065: Sustainable Development in a Globalising World.
Research
My current research interests centre on issues of governance and resiliency, and community involvement in natural resource management and processes of institutional and economic change, primarily in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. I am still 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.
| Books & Book Chapters | |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ‘Adat, Conflict and Reconsiliation: The Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku’, in Tim Lindsey, ed. Indonesia: Law and Society. Sydney: The Federation Press. Pp. 115-43. |
| 2007 | The Acehnese Gampong, Three Years On: Assessing Local Capacity and Reconstruction Assistance in Post-tsunami Aceh. Jakarta: AusAID |
| 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. |
| Translator: | Mohamad, G. ed. (1984) Indonesiana: Humorous Stories From Indonesia. PT Grafiti Pers, Jakarta Indonesia. |
| Editor: | WALHI (1985) Neraca Tanah Air – Rekaman Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia 1984 (The State of Indonesia’s Environment 1984). Jakarta: Sinar Kasih. |
| Journal Articles | |
| 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 15:617-628. |
| 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. |
| Professional Research Reports | |
| 2000 | Indonesia: Agriculture and Rural Sector Strategy Mission Support (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 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 | |
| 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, 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. 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. 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, 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, 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, Washington, DC, April 1995. |
| 1995 | Is There Political Space for Village Mapmakers in New Order Indonesia? Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Chicago IL, March 1995. |
Address
- Room No: S223a, Menzies Building
- Telephone Number: +61 3 990 59319
- Craig.Thorburn@arts.monash.edu.au