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Personal History

I did my first degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. I later completed a M.A. in East Asian studies at Niigata University in Japan in 2002. I moved to Monash in 2008 after completing my PhD in Japanese history at Columbia University in New York. I have also served as a visiting researcher at the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge and the Historiographical Institute in Tokyo.

Current Research

My research focuses on early modern Japan. I am currently working on a book that examines the interaction between the early modern Japanese state and the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The Company appeared in Japan at a critical moment as the newly established Tokugawa state (1603-1867) was in the process of consolidating its power both domestically and abroad. I am also working on a number of separate smaller projects that focus on piracy in the Indian Ocean, diplomacy in Southeast Asia and Chinese communities in Japan. All of these projects look at the seventeenth century. My next research project will examine Japan's colonial regime in Taiwan.

Major Publications

"Unjust, Cruel and Barbarous Proceedings: Japanese Mercenaries and the Amboyna Incident of 1623," Itinerario 31.1 (2007): 15-34
Translation of introduction for Oranda shôkanchô nikki, Vol. 11 (University of Tokyo Press, 2007)
"Pirating in the Shogun's Waters: The Dutch East India Company and the Santo Antonio incident," Bulletin of Portuguese-Japanese History 13 (December 2006): 65-80.

Areas of Research & Supervision

Premodern and modern East Asia, Japanese history, maritime history, South and Southeast Asia in the early modern period, colonialism and imperialism.

Teaching

INT1010 - Contemporary Worlds 1
INT1020 - Contemporary Worlds 2
HSY2/3075 - Soldiers of fortune: mercenaries, states and violence