GREAT DECISIONS TOPIC: Understanding Indonesia

SPEAKER:  Dr. Kevin Fogg, Associate Director, Carolina Asia Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, has more Muslims than any other country on earth, is a center for global biodiversity, and is the biggest player in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations–and yet it is not well known or understood in the United States.

This presentation will unpack how Indonesia fits into our modern world and what is next for the country after its 2024 elections.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Kevin Fogg is the Associate Director of the Carolina Asia Center at UNC-Chapel Hill and teaches in the university’s Department of History.

Dr. Fogg came to UNC from Oxford, where he taught for eight years in the Faculty of History, Brasenose College, and the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He did his undergraduate degree at Duke, and he completed his master’s and doctoral studies at Yale.

He is a historian of Southeast Asia, specializing in Islamic societies and post-colonial Indonesia.

New Mandala blog run by the Australian National University provides interesting perspectives on Indonesia (often politics) in English, usually about once a month: https://www.newmandala.org/
The Inside Indonesia online journal is written by academics for a non-specialist audience, and treats a broad range of topics in Indonesian society: https://www.insideindonesia.org/
Elizabeth Pisani’s book _Indonesia, Etc._ provides an engaging introduction to the archipelago, although now about a decade old: http://indonesiaetc.com/