<p><strong><em>Funded Research Projects</em></strong><br />During 2008-10 I had a British Academy funded project entitled‘New sources and perspectives on the Asian Cold War’. For 2012-14 I had a British Academy grant for a project on violence and decolonisation. </p><p><strong><em>Thematic interests</em></strong>:<br />Decolonisation, insurgency, empire port cities, insurgent and anti-colonial perspectives, justice in decolonising and psotcolonial situations. I have interviewed ex-insurgents up to the level of party Secretary-General, and my current major projects are to complete a major history of the Malayan Emergency and its legacies, and an international collaboration on Western Military Power and the Transformation of Asia.</p><p><strong><em>Geographical interests</em></strong>:<br />Empire east of India, and Southeast Asia historical to contemporary; British Empire in general for comparative research on insurgency, port cities, and decolonisation.</p><p><strong><em>Research students</em></strong><br />I have supervised research students in related areas - both at the Open University and in my previous job in Singapore - and would welcome further enquiries. Recent theses completed: Jane Berney,‘The Contagious Diseases Ordinances of Hong Kong’ (2013), and Richard Duckett,‘Special Operations Executive in Burma’ (2015). Current students are studying British counterinsurgency, and museums and empire.</p><h2>Public Engagement and Impact</h2><p><em><strong>Television and radio</strong></em><br />In 2010-2012 I was academic consultant for the BBC series<em><a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/whats-on/ou-on-the-bbc-empire"><u>Empire</u></a></em>, a major five-part series telling the story of the British Empire in a new, thematic way, and wrote the free wallchart on‘Selling the Empire’ (<a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/order-your-free-empire-poster"><u>download free here</u></a>), of which more than 50,000 were requested and an online series of lectures on<a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/world-history/selling-empire"><em><u>Selling Empire</u></em></a>. In 2013 I was interviewed for<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03cmt53/Terror_Through_Time_The_British_Way/" rel="nofollow">Radio 4s Terror Through Time</a>series, appeared on Channel News Asia, and did further media work on the SAS in Malaya, and on conflict memory.</p><p><em><strong>Military and Foreign Policy</strong></em><br />I have spoken at the<em><a href="http://www.rusi.org/militaryhistory" rel="nofollow"><u>Royal United Services Institute</u></a></em>, provided an article for their website in 2009, and have contributed to the<em><a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/" rel="nofollow"><em><u>Small Wars Journal</u></em></a></em>. I have given papers at events open to military practitioners and the public in the UK, USA, Malaysia, and Singapore.</p><p><strong><em>Public Memory and Commemoration</em></strong><br />I have been interviewed for the National Museum of Singapore History Gallery, and publish on war memory. On 16 February 2012 I addressed‘The Battle for Singapore’ event for more than 200 students and public, at Singapore’s Supreme Court. I testified as expert historical witness on communists in the case of Mohamad Sabu versus<em>Utusan Malaysia</em>, in the Penang High Court, Malaysia. I am also partner to the Imperial War Museum for a collaborative doctoral studentship.</p><h2>Select Publications:</h2><h3>Books</h3><p>Karl Hack, with El Mechat, Marc Frey, Arnaud Nanta, Solofo Randrianja and Jean-Marc Regnault sous la direction de Pierre Brocheux,<em>Les Decolonisations au XXe Siecle: Le Fin Des Empires Européens et Japonais</em>(Paris: Colin Armand: 2012).</p><p>Karl Hack and Kevin Blackburn,<em><a href="http://www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress/subjects/SS/978-9971-69-599-6.html" rel="nofollow"><u>War Memory and the Making of Modern Malaysia and Singapore</u></a></em>(Singapore: NUS Press, 2012).</p><p>Karl Hack and Jean-Louis Margolin (eds.) with Karine Delaye, <em><a href="http://www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress/subjects/SS/978-9971-69-515-6.html" rel="nofollow"><u>Singapore from Temasek to the 21st Century: Reinventing the Global City</u></a></em>(Singapore: NUS Press, 2010).</p><p>Karl Hack and Kevin Blackburn (eds.),<em>Forgotten Captives in Japanese Occupied Asia</em>(London: Routledge, 2008, paperback and ebook 2009).</p><p>Karl Hack and Tobias Rettig (eds.),<em>Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia</em>(London: Routledge, 2006, paperback and ebook 2008).</p><p>Karl Hack and Kevin Blackburn,<em>Did Singapore Have to Fall?</em>(London: Routledge, 2004, paperback 2005).</p><p>C.C. Chin and Karl Hack (eds.),<em>Dialogues with Chin Peng: New Light on the Malayan Communist Party</em>(Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2004). </p><p>Karl Hack,<em>Defence and Decolonisation in Southeast Asia</em>(Richmond: Curzon, 2001).</p><h3>Special Editions</h3><p>Karl Hack (Joint editor with Sibylle Scheipers), <em>Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History</em> 43, 4 (November 2015), on'Hostile Populations'.</p><p>Karl Hack (Special Editor),<em>Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 39, 4</em>(November 2011), on‘Negotiating with the enemy’.</p><p>Karl Hack (Joint editor with Geoff Wade),‘Asian Cold War Symposium’, special edition of the<em>Journal of Southeast Asian Studies</em>40, 3 (October 2009).</p><h3>Articles and Chapters</h3><p>Karl Hack,‘“Between two terrors”: People’s History and the Malayan Emergency’, in Hannah Gurman (ed.),<em>A People’s History of Insurgency</em>(New York: Free Press, 2013).</p><p>Karl Hack,‘“Everyone lived in fear”: Malaya and the“British Way in Counter-Insurgency”’:<em>Small Wars& Insurgencies</em>23, 4/5 (2012).</p><p>Karl Hack,‘Framing the History of Singapore’, in Nicholas Tarling (ed.),<a href="http://www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress/subjects/SS/978-9971-69-646-7.html" rel="nofollow"><u>Studying Singapore's Past: C.M. Turnbull and the History of Modern Singapore</u></a>(Singapore: NUS Press, 2012).</p><p> </p>
<p>I am a Professor of Asian and Imperial History, and have previously been Head of the<a href="http://fass.open.ac.uk/overview/school-history-religious-studies-sociology-social-policy-criminology">School of History, Religious Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology</a>, Head of History, and Chair of A326<em><a href="http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/a326.htm">Empire 1492-1975</a>.</em>Other posts have included being Chair of the History Department's Research Strategy Group, and Director of the Ferguson Research Centre for African and Asian Studies (2010-15). Prior to joining the Open University in 2006 I spent a happy decade at the Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore, working with schools, on heritage sites such as the<em><a href="http://www.fortsiloso.com/batteries/johore/05.htm" rel="nofollow">Johore Battery</a></em>, and reviewing the national history curriculum. In 2006, I was enticed away from the tropics by the chance to help produce the Open University's new module on Empires. I found this chance to make empire come alive for several hundred students a year irresistible, and moved to Oxford with my family and our Singapore rescue dog. </p>
Professor Karl Hack
Hack
Karl
Karl A.
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Professor Karl Hack
Karl A. Hack
Karl Hack
<p>I am a Professor of Asian and Imperial History, and have previously been Head of the<a href="http://fass.open.ac.uk/overview/school-history-religious-studies-sociology-social-policy-criminology">School of History, Religious Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology</a>, Head of History, and Chair of A326<em><a href="http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/a326.htm">Empire 1492-1975</a>.</em>Other posts have included being Chair of the History Department's Research Strategy Group, and Director of the Ferguson Research Centre for African and Asian Studies (2010-15). Prior to joining the Open University in 2006 I spent a happy decade at the Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore, working with schools, on heritage sites such as the<em><a href="http://www.fortsiloso.com/batteries/johore/05.htm" rel="nofollow">Johore Battery</a></em>, and reviewing the national history curriculum. In 2006, I was enticed away from the tropics by the chance to help produce the Open University's new module on Empires. I found this chance to make empire come alive for several hundred students a year irresistible, and moved to Oxford with my family and our Singapore rescue dog. </p>