Nathan Franklin

Biography

Dr. Nathan Franklin is an Indonesianist with expertise in Indonesian politics and Indonesian language. He currently teaches Indonesian language at CDU and is coordinator and resident director of the Kupang and Lombok in-country language programs, which are part of the Regional Universities Indonesian Language Initiative (RUILI). Dr. Franklin is currently conducting research on Indonesian politics and working on publications. He is also a working member of a trilateral project between CDU, University of Nusa Cendana (UNDANA), and University of Mataram (UNRAM) on local governance capacity building in selected districts in Eastern Indonesia with particular reference to the delivery of health and education services. Dr. Franklin’s PhD concerned political Islam in Indonesia. He conducted his research in Lamongan, East Java, and concentrated on two Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) as case studies; one associated with the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and one with the reformist Muhammadiyah. Specifically, he examined the political culture and worldview of pesantren headmasters (kyai), and their students (santri), and how they have influenced the social identity and voting habits of the local community. Dr. Franklin has published articles on pesantren, NU and Muhammadiyah, political Islam, and radical Islamist organisations

Research Interest

Teaching Indonesian language within a cultural context, Indonesian politics and elections at all levels of government, Decentralisation (devolution) in Indonesia.