Karl Anthony Hack is a British historian and academic, who specialises in the history of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

, and of

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

and

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

. Drawing on interviews with insurgents, his work has demonstrated the role of high-level

coercion Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to i ...

in winning post-war counter-insurgencies, and explored extreme violence and violence limitation. He has also carried out a wide range of public work, ranging across heritage, memory, the media and the courts. He is a professor of history at

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

where he has also been head of history, and head of th
School of History, Religious Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology
. Prior to joining The Open University in 2006, he taught at the

National Institute of Education The National Institute of Education (NIE) is an autonomous institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Ranked 10th in the world and 2nd in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Education and Trainin ...

, at Singapore's

Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1981, it is also the second oldest autonomous university in the country. The university is organised across numerous colleges and schools, includi ...

, from 1995 to 2006.

Early life and education

Karl Hack was born in 1966 at RAF Hospital Changi,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. He was educated at Hardye's School in Dorchester,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, starting when it was a state grammar and finishing after it had become a comprehensive school. He took the first year of the

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

course at

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

, before transferring to read

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. He then undertook postgraduate research, initially at

, moving to

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

on the award of a Gateway Scholarship. He completed his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(DPhil) degree in 1995.

Academic career

From 1995 to 2006, he was an assistant and then an associate professor of history at the

(NTU), in

, teaching a range of

Southeast Asian history The history of Southeast Asia covers the people of Southeast Asia from prehistory to the present in two distinct sub-regions: Mainland Southeast Asia (or Indochina) and Maritime Southeast Asia (or Insular Southeast Asia). Mainland Southeast Asi ...

. As part of NTU's

he visited Singapore secondary schools and

junior colleges A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

, and provided services and advice to the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

Singapore Tourism Board The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore, tasked to promote the country's tourism industry. History The board was first established on 1 January 1964 and ...

, and

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. He also experimented with early versions of the '

flipped classroom A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning. It aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home, and work on live problem-solving during class time. This pedagogical ...

', moving lectures on subjects such as

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

online in order to increase the quality and range of face to face teaching. He worked particularly closely with NTU colleague Dr Kevin Blackburn. Together they integrated

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

projects on family and on place into the teaching of Singapore history and

social studies In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as ...

, and collaborated on publications and heritage projects. In 2006, he moved to

, where he helped to chair the production of a new module, , which has been delivered by blended online and traditional methods to several hundred students yearly since 2009. From 2009 to December 2015 he was director of the Ferguson Centre for Asian and African Studies, editing its series of online working papers. He has also served as head of the Open University History Department, and in August 2016 he became inaugural head of the ne
School of History, Religious Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology
(HRSSC). In 2016 he also chaired production of an entirely online dissertation module, A329 The Making of Welsh History, which trialled new methods of direct authoring of online modules, and of involving students as co-educators in an intensive and continuous online learning community. The dissertations are onlin

Public engagement

Together with Dr Kevin Blackburn of NTU, Dr Hack led the historical consultancy behind the new Singapore heritage site, the

Johore Battery The Johore Battery was a former British coastal artillery battery located in Changi on the easternmost side of mainland Singapore. It consisted of three large BL 15-inch Mk. I naval guns installed on land by the British government in the late 19 ...

, which opened in 2002. They also took the lead in organizing the 2005 ''Forum with the Wartime Generation at the Singapore History Museum and The Japanese Occupation Conference'', which was open to students and the public at what is now known as the

National Museum of Singapore The National Museum of Singapore is a public museum dedicated to Singaporean art, culture and history. Located within the country's Civic District at the Downtown Core area, it is the oldest museum in the country, with its history dating back to ...

. He was also the Open University's lead academic on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series ''Empire'' – which was first aired on BBC One from February to May 2012 as well as being issued as a DVD – producing a historical poster, of which more than 63,700 hard copies were distributed. The latter was expanded into the website (''OpenLearn'', The Open University), which has informed public understanding of the

Empire Marketing Board The Empire Marketing Board was formed in May 1926 by the Colonial Secretary Leo Amery to promote intra-Empire trade and to persuade consumers to 'Buy Empire'. It was established as a substitute for tariff reform and protectionist legislation and ...

in particular. Other radio and television work has included interviews for Radio 4's ''Terror Through Time'' series, and appearing on ''Crisis in Malaya'', ''Black Ops'' episode 8, series 2 (2014), talking about the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

. In 2012 he was expert witness in the

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

High Court, testifying on the historically contested and diverse ways and degrees to which people could be defined as 'communist' in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and

. He is also involved with the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

in a collaborative studentship, jointly supervising doctoral research on ''The Impact of postwar counter-insurgency on the British military''.

Personal life

In 1989, Karl married Vanessa Jones. Together they have two daughters and one son. He is a member of Oxford Hawks Hockey Club and was formerly a member of Ceylon Sports Club, Singapore.

Selected books

* * With Kevin Blackburn. * Edited with Tobias Rettig * Singapore: NUS Press, 2004). Chinese edition in 2006. Edited with C.C. Chin. * With Kevin Blackburn. * Edited with Jean-Louis Margolin and Karine Delaye. Also University of Chicago Press. * With Pierre Brocheux et al. * With Kevin Blackburn. Also University of Chicago Press.

Selected online materials

* * * Interview on the

Malayan emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

on the series * . Online lecture. * Foreword to John Coast, * Preface (covering the

fall of Singapore The fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore, took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. S ...

) to William Nash and John Nash, * Preface (covering the Ugandan Bukedi disturbances and imperial policing) to Stewart West, * Preface (covering

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

from colony to independence) to Stewart West, * Interview with Octavian Manea, * * from ''Forum with the Wartime Generation 2005'', available on Dr Blackburn's YouTube channel.

Selected articles and chapters

* 'Detention, Deportation, and Resettlement: British Counterinsurgency and Malaya's Rural Chinese, 1948–60'. ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'', 43, 5 (2015), pp. 611–640 * 'Everyone lived in fear: Malaya and the British way of counter-insurgency'. ''Small Wars & Insurgencies'', 23, 4–5 (2012), pp. 671–699 * 'Framing Singapore's History', in Nicholas Tarling, ed., pp. 17–64 * 'The Malayan Emergency as counter-insurgency paradigm'. ''Journal of Strategic Studies'', 32, 3 (2009), pp. 383–414 * 'The origins of the Asian Cold War: Malaya 1948'. ''Journal of Southeast Asian Studies'', 40, 3 (2009), pp. 471–496

References

External links

Karl Hack's web profile at The Open University

The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, Open University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hack, Karl 1966 births Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Academics of the Open University People from Singapore British historians Historians of the British Empire Historians of colonialism Historians of Southeast Asia Counterinsurgency theorists People educated at Hardye's School