Duncan McDuie-Ra

I have had an association with the IIAS for 15 years. I can safely say that my career would have turned out differently had it not been for the fellowship I undertook at the IIAS in 2011. At the time, I had been working as a research and teaching academic in Australia, at one of the largest universities UNSW. My fellowship at the IIAS was the main destination for my first ever sabbatical. Prior to arriving at the IIAS, I had spent some months doing field work in Delhi for a book I wanted to write during my time in Leiden. The environment at the IIAS was remarkable. There were scholars from all over Asia visiting during my time there. This was the first time I’d been able to concentrate fully on research, and I found the days went by so quickly, with hours dedicated to writing in the mornings and middle of the day, and afternoons spent talking to other fellows about their projects, their own lives, and their plans during their time in Leiden. Coming from Australia, the opportunities to present papers and visit other institutions in Europe are constrained by the distance and time for travel. In Leiden I was able to make connections within the Netherlands, and I travelled to other cities frequently for seminars and to give classes and talks. 

I was also very fortunate to have been able to discuss the book project with the editors of the IIAS Book Series in house. They encouraged me to put in a proposal, which I did, and the book was published by Amsterdam University Press in the IIAS Series the following year. The book, Northeast migrants in Delhi, is one of nine that I have written, and really boosted my career. I always associate that book with my time in Leiden; walking along Rapenburg trying to get the ideas right in my head, talking to other fellows about chapter ideas in Hortus Botanicus, and presenting early drafts in the brown bag lunches in the IIAS itself. I am very proud to have the IIAS imprint on the back cover of the book. 

After returning from the IIAS, I went back to my academic life in Australia. I remained involved in the activities of the IIAS through ICAS. Northeast Migrants in Delhi was fortunate enough to receive an accolade at the ICAS Conference in 2013 in Macao, and I was invited to join the book Prize Committee for ICAS 2015 in Adelaide. Hundreds of books came across my desk over the next two years. I wrote a reflective piece on this in the IIAS Newsletter and about the joys and challenges of being on a book Prize Committee; so many books, so little time, and in my case, so little office space! 

In 2017, I edited the Focus Section in the IIAS Newsletter (#77) compiling a series of short essays on ‘Learning to Love the City in Northeast India’ ; a collection that highlighted the rapid urbanisation of the region, and the value of analysing the region from the starting point of modernity rather than the standard domination of classical anthropology and political science focused on insurgency. 

Parallel to these activities, I have also been involved with the Asian Borderlands Research Network, a network of scholars researching borderlands in Asia that is supported by the IIAS. Being involved with this network has kept me in touch with scholars working on borderlands in Asia over the last decade and a half. As my professional life has taken on heavier and heavier leadership responsibilities, involvement in the Asian Borderlands Research Network keeps me connected to the rich and vivid research on Asia supported by the IIAS.

Finally, my long association with the IIAS let me think seriously about spending part of my career working in Asia. In 2024 this eventually happened, and I left Australia to take up the position of Professor and Head of School at Monash University Malaysia in the School of a Arts and Social Sciences. One of the attractions of this role was the opportunity to develop the capacity of research and researchers in the region. This is a goal shared by the IIAS, enacted through fellowships, the various conferences and workshops that it funds, and the commitment to mobility of scholars from Asia to Europe and back again. 

I’m very indebted to the IIAS. It is no exaggeration to say that it changed my career, and led me down some fascinating pathways. I hope that its value is recognised and endures so that generations of academics can be brought together under its auspices.

Duncan McDuie-Ra is Professor and Head of School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia campus. Duncan's research focuses on frontier urbanism, urban technology, urban play, and urban media--predominantly in Asia.