BA (hons) Oriental Studies (ANU), MA Southeast Asian Studies (Yale), PhD (Sydney)

Honorary Research Professor

Barbara Hatley has been foundation Professor of Indonesian and since 2000 and was Head of the School of Asian Languages and Studies at UTAS from 2000 to 2006. She has an MA from Yale, a PhD from Sydney University and taught previously at Monash University.

Research Interests

Barbara's research interests include Indonesian performing arts, modern literature and gender studies. Her PhD thesis focused on Javanese popular theatre as an expression of local social and cultural identity: later ARC funded research analysed the ways modern Indonesian language theatre invoked cultural "tradition" to convey social and political resistance. Currently Barbara is writing a book on theatre and identity in central Java which draws on this earlier research while moving on to the complex, fragmented globalised present. Another key interest is gender representation in theatre and literature, and women writers and performers - including recently the sensational pop music icon, Inul. Barbara's book Javanese Performances on an Indonesian Stage was published by NUS Press in 2008. Barbara will continue her research activities after retirement at the end of 2008, in particular as a member of the successful ARC discovery grant team which will be investigating 'Theatre in the Asia Pacific: Regional Culture in a Modern Global Context'.

Teaching

Barbara teaches Indonesian language, literature and popular culture, and also contributes to Asian Studies units. She supervises postgraduate students working the fields of Indonesian performing arts, society and education and gender studies. Keen to promote interest in Indonesian culture in the wider community, she has gained grants to bring several Indonesian artists and performers to Tasmania, including from August -November 2003 the renowned puppeteer and gamelan musician Joko Susilo.

Full Publication List