Charles Coppel
| Principal Fellow | |
|---|---|
| Email: | c.coppel@unimelb.edu.au |
| Academic Profile | |
Charles Coppel, after graduating in Law at the University of Melbourne, practised as a barrister for five years, but developed a more enduring fascination for the modern history of Indonesia and its ethnic Chinese minority. His Monash PhD was published as Indonesian Chinese in Crisis (Oxford UP, 1983) and as Tionghoa Indonesia Dalam Krisis (Pustaka Sinar Harapan, 1994). His publications have covered such diverse areas as ethnic and race relations, ethnic identity, Confucian religion, language usage, colloquial Malay fictional and historical narratives, multiple migration, and the transformation of everyday life in colonial Java. These interests are reflected in his collected volume Studying Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia (Singapore Society of Asian Studies, 2002). His current research focus is on the phenomenon of violence in Indonesia since 1965, which has given him a renewed interest in riots, pogroms and genocide. He has taught at Monash University and, since 1973, at the University of Melbourne, and has been a Fellow-in-Residence of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Current and previous research thesis supervisions include:
- Chris Coney, Australian perceptions of Japan from the 1930s to the 1990s, and their bearing on Australian identity
- Kate McGregor, Military representations of the Indonesian past
- Jemma Purdey, Anti-Chinese violence in Indonesia (1996-1999)
- Andy Schmulow, Causes and effects of banking deregulation in Indonesia