James Joseph Fox (born 29 May 1940) is an American anthropologist and historian of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. He was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(AB 1962) and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in (Social Anthropology)(B Litt. 1965, DPhil. 1968) where he was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. The title of his doctoral thesis was
The Rotinese: A study of the social organisation of an eastern indonesian people
' His long-term position was in the Anthropology Department of the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies, of which he was Director in 1998-2006. He also taught at various universities including Harvard, Cornell, Duke and Chicago in the U.S., and various European Universities including Leiden, Bielefeld and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1988 and is a Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

. He has conducted fieldwork in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Roti Roti is a round flatbread originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, East African, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole-wheat flour, kno ...

, and

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. He has also been an administrator at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

at the

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs is a constituent of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. The study of the Pacific was formerly a research focus of the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) ...

. He is currently Professorial fellow in the ANU Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program (RMAP).

Works include:-

* 1977 Harvest of the Palm: Ecological Change in Eastern Indonesia. * 1980 The Flow of Life: Essays on Eastern Indonesia. * 1980 Indonesia: The Making of a Culture. (Vol 1 of 3 volumes of Indonesia: Australian Perspectives) * 1980 Indonesia: Australian Perspectives. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University volumes published as a single volume, with editors:J.J. Fox, R.G. Garnaut, P.T. McCawley, and J.A.C. Mackie.* 1986 Bahasa, Sastra dan Sejarah: Kumpulan Karangan Mengenai Masyarakat Pulau Roti. Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan. anguage, Literature and History: Collected Essays on Rotinese Society.Six essays in English on Rotinese culture and history with accompanying Indonesian translations.* 1988 To Speak in Pairs: Essays on the Ritual Languages of Eastern Indonesia. * 1992 The Heritage of Traditional Agriculture Among the Western Austronesians. * 1993 Balanced Development: East Java in the New Order. * 1993 Inside Austronesian Houses: Perspectives on Domestic Designs for Living. * 1995 The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. * 1996 Origin, Ancestry and Alliance: Explorations in Austronesian Ethnography.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, James J. Living people 1940 births 21st-century American historians Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty American Rhodes Scholars Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty Duke University faculty Academic staff of Leiden University Academic staff of Bielefeld University Academic staff of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of Indonesia Writers from Milwaukee 21st-century American anthropologists 20th-century American male writers Historians from Wisconsin