Thomas Lindblad, born in Nynäshamn, Sweden, in 1949. Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. Associate Professor in the Economic History of Indonesia at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 February 1995 – 30 June 1995)
The second semester of the academic year 1994/95 was devoted to starting up an international project to write a modern comprehensive textbook in Indonesian economic history. This was done in close co-operation with Dr. Thee Kian Wie and Dr. V.J.H. Houben. The preparations may be divided into three types of activities. First, a frame of reference for the future textbook was constructed by the compilation of the proceedings of a KNAW colloquium held in Amsterdam in September 1994 on the historical foundations of a national economy in Indonesia. The editing of this volume was virtually completed. Second, a wider context for future work on the textbook was created through the setting-up of a new large-scale project on Indonesian economic history to be executed under the auspices of the cultural agreement between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Such activities included a series of discussions in Indonesia about an Indonesian counterpart project as well as the detailed planning of a summer school on Indonesian economic history to be held in Yogyakarta in July 1995. Third, with respect to the actual textbook several building-blocks were constructed including a survey of the historiography, statistics on coolie labour, abstracts of major contributions to the literature and also texts on Indonesian history for a wider audience.