معرفی
Michael Francis Laffan serves as the Paula Chow Professor of International and Regional Studies and Professor of History at Princeton University, where he has held faculty positions since 2005. He currently directs both the Center for Collaborative History and the Fung Global Fellows Program.
His academic credentials include:
- B.A. in Asian Studies, Australian National University (1995)
- Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History, University of Sydney (2001)
Laffan specializes in Imperial History with concentrated expertise in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region, examining Muslim experiences under colonial empires from the 17th to 19th centuries. His research interrogates how political formations shaped Muslim identities across transnational spaces, particularly evident in his award-winning monograph Under Empire. Current investigations extend to Australian territorial history through his Cocos Islands project exploring slavery, copra economies, and geopolitical intrigue.
His scholarly output demonstrates consistent thematic focus on colonial subjectivity, Orientalist frameworks, and Muslim loyalty dynamics within imperial systems, with recent work expanding into emotion history (Facing Fear) and Indonesian Islam formation.
Recognition includes:
- General History Prize in the 2023 New South Wales Premier's History Awards for Under Empire: Muslim Lives and Loyalties Across the Indian Ocean World, 1775-1945
Laffan has mentored six graduate students to completion including Megan Brankley Abbas and Saarah Jappie, though he is not currently recruiting new advisees. His pedagogical contributions include developing courses on Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean historiography.
Presently, he is researching the socio-political history of the Cocos Islands, examining intersections of colonial labor systems, resource extraction, and community formation in this remote Australian territory.
