Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Robert Cribb grew up in Brisbane, Australia, and spent much time as a child wandering the bush and the Barrier Reef with his botanist parents. After completing his undergraduate studies in Asian History at the University of Queensland, he took his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, with a thesis on Jakarta during the Indonesian revolution, 1945-1949. After graduating, he taught at Griffith University and the University of Queensland (both in Brisbane) and as guest lecturer at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands. He held research positions at the Australian National University, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, where he was also director for two years. He re-joined the Australian National University at the beginning of 2003.
Research interests
Robert Cribb's research interests focus mainly on Indonesia, though he has some interest in other parts of Southeast Asia (especially Malaysia and Burma/Myanmar) and in Inner Asia. The themes of his research are: mass violence and crime; national identity; environmental politics; and historical geography. Current research projects include: the origins of massacre in Indonesia; 'Puppet states revisited: Empire and Sovereign Subordination in Modern Asia' (with Li Narangoa); and War crimes and the Japanese Military, 1941 - 1945 (with Sandra Wilson).
Qualifications
Researcher's projects
The origins of massacre in Indonesia. Examines the deep and shallow roots of the 1945 and 1965 massacres in Indonesia.
Puppet states revisited (with Li Narangoa). Examines the concept of puppet states as it has been used in international studies and suggests ways it can be stripped of its judgemental aspects and used as an analytical term.
War crimes and the Japanese Military, 1941 - 1945 (with Sandra Wilson). Asks why the Japanese military committed the crimes for which so many were tried.
Education/Academic qualification
History, PhD, Jakarta in the Indonesian Revolution, SOAS University of London
1 Oct 1979 → 31 Dec 1983
Award Date: 17 Apr 1984
External positions
Director, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
1997 → 1999
Gastdocent, Leiden University (Universiteit Leiden)
1 Jul 1993 → 31 Dec 1993
Lecturer, University of Queensland (UQ)
1 Jul 1990 → 31 Dec 2002
Fellow, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies
Oct 1988 → Jun 1989
Lecturer, Griffith University
1 Jul 1983 → 31 Dec 1986
Expertise Areas
- Government and Politics of Asia and the Pacific
- Asian History
- Professional Ethics (incl. police and research ethics)
- History and Philosophy of Science (incl. Non-historical Philosophy of Science)
- HISTORICAL STUDIES
- Law and Society
Fingerprint
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Network (past 5 years)
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Indonesia Project Phase V
Resosudarmo, B., Aspinall, E., Atmosukarto, I., Bessell, S., Bexley, A., Burke, P., Cribb, R., Dong, X., Kartaadipoetra, F., Lewis, B., McCarthy, J., Mietzner, M., Munira, L., Nisa, E., Resosudarmo, I. A. P., Tapsell, R., Warburton, E., White, S. & van der Eng, P.
Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
31/10/22 → 30/06/26
Project: Research
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Innovation Connections Project - Evaluating Cultural Infusion's Ancestry Atlas
Cribb, R., Farrelly, N. & Malhi, A.
Cultural Infusion (Int) Pty Ltd
22/04/19 → 1/12/20
Project: Research
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War crimes and the Japanese Military 1941-1945
Cribb, R. & Wilson, S.
Australian Research Council (ARC)
1/06/15 → 31/05/19
Project: Research
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Repatriation and Release of Japanese War Criminals 1946 - 1958: Southeast Asia, Japan and the Great Powers
Cribb, R. & Trefalt, B.
Australian Research Council (ARC)
1/01/11 → 31/12/13
Project: Research
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Detention in Camps in Asia: An Overview
Cribb, R., 2022, Detention Camps in Asia: The Conditions of Confinement in Modern Asian History. Robert Cribb, Christina Twomey and Sandra Wilson (ed.). 1 ed. The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, p. 1-21Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Indigenous peoples in Asia: a long history
Cribb, R., 2022, The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History. Ann McGrath and Lynette Russell (ed.). 1st ed. UK: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 86-110Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Power, Care and Species Difference in Orangutan Rehabilitation in Sarawak: A Roundtable
Parrenas, J. S., Izharuddin, A., Haines, M. B., Zakaria, F. & Cribb, R., 2021, In: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 94, 320, part 1, p. 203-215Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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'Conventional War Crimes': The International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Ill-Treatment of Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees
Cribb, R., 2020, The Tokyo Tribunal: Perspectives on Law, History and Memory. V E Dittrich, K von Lingen, P Osten & J Makraiová (ed.). 1st ed. Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, p. 177-199Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Minorities in Indonesia history: From ambiguous advantage to canonization
Cribb, R., 2019, Contentious Belonging: The place of Minorities in Indonesia. Greg Fealy and Ronit Ricci (ed.). 1st ed. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, p. 19-35Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter