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60 seconds with … Greg Barton

25 June 2008

Name: Professor Greg Barton
Org. Unit: School of Political and Social Inquiry
Title: Herb Feith Research Professor for the Study of Indonesia

How long have you been with Monash University?

I joined Monash in January 2007. My historical links with Monash go back to 1984 when I commenced BA studies, then 1988 when I started my PhD.

Prior to working at Monash, where were you located and what was your role?

In 1993 I commenced a lectureship at Deakin University, initially in Indonesian studies, then in religious studies and finally in politics. At the beginning of 2006 I moved to the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, promising our (then) ten-year-old that we would remain in Hawaii until she graduated from high school.

What challenges are ahead in your current role?

Building up a body of Higher Degree Research students researching Indonesia, Southeast Asia and the Muslim world with my colleagues in PSI; teaching and developing the new Masters in Islamic Studies; and building up the Centre for Islam and the Modern World. A more immediate challenge is completing my long-overdue manuscript for Islam's Other Nation: the role of Islam in modern Indonesia and getting it to my publisher by September.

What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?

Helping Australia better understand Indonesia and its place in Asia and contributing to the development of understanding and respect between Muslims and non-Muslims. Researching and teaching are satisfying in themselves but this is all the more so when engaging with religion, politics and modernity. There is a sense that what we do can make a real difference.

What is your favourite destination and why?

I am very fond of Jakarta. The Big Durian is thorny and an affront to the nose, an inside-out city that is difficult to love at first, but slowly reveals hidden charms. But my favourite city remains Istanbul -- it has a sense of history and the meeting of cultures like no other place. I love the European Alps and the Himalayas as much as I love the coasts of Southeast Asia and Australia but ultimately cities are about people and that makes them more interesting to me than nature alone. For me, Melbourne is one of the world's best cities to live in.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

I'm not sure about a single piece of "best advice" but I'll never forget a comment made to me by Professor Cyril Skinner from Indonesian and Malayan studies in the mid-80s: "Imagine if Clifford Geertz (American anthropologist) was wrong even half the time; think about how many good ideas he came up with!" I took it as encouragement to think on a broad canvas and not fear failure and criticism. I certainly would not be at Monash today were it not for Cyril.

What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn't know?

I am a lapsed engineer. It took three years studying aeronautical engineering at RMIT to realise that my weakness in complex mathematics meant that I should be working with words and not numbers. It wasn't easy to go from being an engineering student to being an arts student but I knew that it was Asia that held my deepest interest. I don't regret my science background though – particularly in recent years working on security issues I have come to appreciate basic scientific literacy - there should be more of it in the humanities and social sciences! Machines – though now more cars rather than aircraft – remain a private passion.