Jaap's key interests include culture change, the experience of time, and political theology. His regional interest is in the Southwest Pacific and Southeast Asia, with particular emphasis on Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Maluku, and Kalimantan. He is the author of Living with Intricate Futures (2000), a monograph on knowledge and religion among the Imyan of West Papua. Recently, Jaap has begun to focus on historicity, Christianity, and lost tribes in Solomon Islands, and Islamic historiography versus Christian theocracy in West Papua. 

I studied anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and obtained my PhD from Radboud University Nijmegen in 2000. I have held postdoctoral positions at Leiden University, Radboud University, and the Australian National University. I have also been engaged in conflict resolution and emergency aid in the Malukus, environmental assessments in the Pacific, and a number of other consultancies. I came to Macquarie University in 2010. 

Career highlights

• A prestigious 16-month fellowship at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) from November 2021 to early 2023. During this fellowship, I will study how new understandings of history emerge as people’s futures change, with a special focus on societies in Solomon Islands and West Papua. The fellowship will result in a book and a number of articles on anthropology and historicity. I will also organise a conference on perceptions of time and foster future collaborations between Aarhus and Macquarie Universities.
• An Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects grant (150102312) awarded in 2015, to further my research on the island of Malaita, Solomon Islands. Within the framework of that project I explored people's wonder about new global geography and historicity and the ways in which this wonder is opening up a space for local state-building by an Evangelical/Pentecostal movement. 
• Senior Research Fellow and Jakarta-based Project Manager for the Van Vollenhoven Institute (Leiden University) for an Access to Justice project in collaboration with the World Bank and the UNDP, 2007-2010.
• Writing Fellow at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), Leiden, 2006.
• Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Research Fellow in the Centre for Pacific and Asian Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, 2002-2005.
• Research Fellow in the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia (SSGM) Project, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, 2002-2004.
• Ambon-based Liaison Officer for Development and Emergency Aid in Maluku, Indonesia for CORDAID (Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid) and NOVIB (Oxfam Netherlands), 2000-2002. 

Teaching

ANTH1007 – Saints, Shamans, Cults and Demons: Religion in the Contemporary World, 2017-2021 

ANTH2008 - Saints, Shamans, Cults and Demons: Religion in the Contemporary World, 2023

ANTH2024 – Mad, Bad, Sad: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Deviance, 2023 

ANTH150 – Identity and Difference: Introduction to Anthropology, 2010-2013 

ANTH221 – Development Studies: The Anthropology of International Aid, 2020 

ANTH223 – Ethnicity, Migration and Nationalism, 2010-2011 

ANTH3000 – Pacific Cultures: Cannibals, Kings, and other Myths, 2015-2018 

ANTH3003 – Anthropology of the City, 2015-2018 (with Chris Houston)

ANTH3030 – Anthropology and Law, 2013-2020 

ANTH7002 – Core Issues in Anthropological Theory, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 

ANTH800 – Why Culture Matters?, 2010-2017 

ANTH8015 – Development Theory and Practice, 2021 

PhD Supervision

Louise Decottigny, since 2021. Gender in Motion: Women's Organisations in the Pathway towards Independence in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. (Adjunct Supervisor; Principal Supervisor: Anna-Karina Hermkens).

Rebecca Grunsell, since 2021. iGods: An Ethnographic Study of Transhumanism. (Principal Supervisor).

Marlon Arthur Huwae, since 2020. Cultures of Fear in West Papua (Indonesia): An Ethnographic Study of Papuan Responses to Covid-19 and Special Autonomy (Principal Supervisor).

Graeme Friedman, 2019-2022. The Weaponised Witness in Apartheid’s Political Trials: Shame, Terror and Storytelling in the Waging of Lawfare. Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University. (Associate Supervisor, Principal Supervisor: Kate Rossmanith). Awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Research Excellence on 12 August 2022.

Daniel Tranter, since 2018. Tools and Time: Heritage Stonemasonry in Sydney's Rookwood Necropolis. (Principal Supervisor)

A Sudiana Sasmita, since 2017. Political Transformation in the Aftermath of Special Autonomy in Papua, Indonesia: Between Resistance and Democratisation. (Associate Supervisor; Principal Supervisor: Lloyd Cox)

Lucinda Casbolt, since 2016. Investigating Experiences of the ‘Bicycle Renaissance’ in Contemporary Cities. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Associate Supervisor; Principal Supervisor: Chris Houston)

Roberto Costa, 2016-2020. Material Reconciliations and Power Restoration: Woodcarving, Museums and Prestige among Asmat (Papua, Indonesia). Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Principal Supervisor)

Belinda Lopez, 2015-2019. Finding Papua in Java: Papuans Encounter Stories about the Past and Themselves and Tete (creative component). Department of Anthropology and Department of Media and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University. (Associate Supervisor; Principal Supervisor: Kate Rossmanith). Awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Commendation for Research Excellence on 12 August 2022.

Maarten Lecompte, 2016-2018. The Emerging Story Writer: A study of linguistic and meta-linguistic phenomena in the writing of Cèmuhi, a Melanesian Language of New Caledonia. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Principal Supervisor)

Sophie Chao, 2015-2018. Dispersed Ontologies in Marind, West Papua. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Principal Supervisor). Awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Research Excellence on 6 February 2018.

Mariske Westendorp, 2012-2016. “In the Eye of the Typhoon”: Aspirations of Buddhists and Catholics in Turbulent Hong Kong. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Principal Supervisor)

Charlotte Keskin-Joppien, 2010-2013. Culture of Everyday Politics – Politics of Everyday Culture: An Inquiry into Municipal Politics in Konya and Eskişehir. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Associate Supervisor; Principal Supervisor: Chris Houston)

Anton Piyarathne, 2010-2014. Constructing Commongrounds: Everyday Lifeworlds beyond Politicised Ethnicities in Sri Lanka. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Principle Supervisor)

Sean Durbin, 2010-2013. The Revelation of John (Hagee): American Christian Zionism, “Religion,” “Politics,” and Identity. Department of Modern History, Macquarie University. (Associate Supervisor; Principal Supervisor: Marion Maddox)

Johanes Herlijanto, 2009-2012. Emulating China: Representation of China and the Contemporary Critique of Indonesia. Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University. (Principle Supervisor)

Budi Hernawan, 2008-2012. From the Theatre of Torture to the Theatre of Peace: The Politics of Torture and Re-imagining Peacebuilding in Papua, Indonesia. Australian National University. (Associate Supervisor, Principal Supervisor: John Braithwaite).

Rikardo Simarmata, 2007-2012. Indonesian Law and Reality in the Delta: A Socio-legal Inquiry into Laws, Local Bureaucrats and Natural Resources Management in the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan. Department of Law, Leiden University. (Associate Supervisor, Principal Supervisor: J.M. Otto)

Mastadon