Dr Matthew Woolgar

Profile

I joined Leeds after a period as a Stipendiary Lecturer at the University of Oxford. I had previously studied at the University of Oxford, at SOAS (University of London), and Yogyakarta State University.

Research interests

My research focuses on histories of social and political mobilisation in island Southeast Asia at the intersection of global movements and institutions on the one hand, and local ecological and cultural dynamics on the other. Southeast Asia’s involvement in the global rise in environmental consciousness from the late twentieth century is a key theme in my research.

Island Southeast Asia, as a region of incredible biodiversity but also great ethnic and cultural diversity, is a fascinating region in which to explore how varied groups have contested and collaborated in relation to local and global challenges. Yet it is often marginalised in supposedly ‘global’ histories.

My interest in these issues grew out of the time I spent studying at Yogyakarta State University, during which I was exposed to the vigorous debates and vibrant activism that have coloured Indonesian public life, as well as some of the environmental challenges that the country has faced.

I take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of history, engaging with scholars and research across the humanities and social sciences (and beyond). My research uses mixed methods, combining archival research and media analysis with interviews.

My research has involved close collaboration with civil society groups in Southeast Asia. This has complemented my interest in oral history, and has fed an interdisciplinary engagement with interviews as simultaneously social practices as well as acts of knowledge creation, affective experience and political contestation.

Primary investigator (PI)

• Indonesian Environmentalism from the 1970s to the 1990s: A Global-Local Perspective

Qualifications

• DPhil History, University of Oxford
• MA Southeast Asian Studies, SOAS (University of London)
• BA History, University of Oxford

Professional memberships

• Association for Southeast Asian Studies
• Royal Historical Society
• Association for Asian Environmental History

Student education

My teaching currently spans across the international history of the twentieth century.

I welcome enquiries for postgraduate research supervision for projects addressing the following: Southeast Asia; Indonesia; social movements; transnational activism; the Cold War; environmental activism & policy; environmental history; authoritarianism; human rights.

Research groups and institutes

• Politics, Diplomacy, and International History