We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Joshua Barker as Director of the Asian Institute for a five-year term, from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2019.

A long-time active participant in the Asian Institute’s research and teaching programs, Professor Barker is well known as a strong scholar and teacher.  While serving this past year as Acting Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Professor Barker demonstrated that he is also an active and engaged leader.

With a deeply grounded expertise and training on Southeast Asia, Professor Barker brings to the Asian Institute a cutting-edge research focus on cities, media/public culture and infrastructure, one that speaks to important connections across the social sciences, humanities and public policy at the Munk School and the University more broadly.  His wide-ranging research themes and vision also represent the Asian Institute’s unique brand of comparative Asia conversations and through them, rigorous analyses of global processes.

Joshua Barker received his B.A. from Trent University, his M.A. from SOAS, and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He has taught and conducted research at the Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia and has been a post doctoral fellow at Twente University, the Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, and Stockholm University. He is currently co-editor of the journal Indonesia and associate editor of City & Society.

We would also like to offer our deep gratitude to Professor Joe Wong for his impressive and integrative leadership of the Asian Institute these past eight years.  Professor Wong provided outstanding leadership during the formative years of the AI and built its strong record of scholarship, teaching and community engagement. He will be continuing his involvement with the Munk School in his capacity as the Ralph and Roz Halbert Professor of Innovation.