Kahin, Audrey 1934–

(Audrey R. Kahin)

PERSONAL:

Born May 18, 1934, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England; immigrated to United States, 1963, naturalized U.S. citizen, 1982; daughter of Charles J. (in insurance) and Florence (a homemaker) Richey; married George M. Kahin (a professor), March 8, 1967. Education: University of Nottingham, B.A., 1955; attended American University, 1966-67; Cornell University, M.A., 1976, Ph.D., 1979. Politics: Democrat.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ithaca, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd. (publisher), London, England, editorial assistant, 1956-58; Interpreters School, Bergamo, Italy, teacher, 1958-60; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, administrative and research assistant, 1963-66, editor of Modern Indonesia Project, 1979-95, and Southeast Asia Program, 1986-95.

MEMBER:

Association for Asian Studies, League of Women Voters.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright awards, 1975-76 and 1984-85; grants from Social Science Research Council, 1981-82 and 1995.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Benedict Anderson) Interpreting Indonesian Politics, Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), 1982.

(Under name Audrey R. Kahin; editor and contributor) Regional Dynamics of the Indonesian Revolution, University of Hawaii Press (Honolulu, HI), 1985.

(Translator) Leon Salim, Prisoners at Kota Cane, Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), 1986.

(Under name Audrey R. Kahin; with husband George M. Kahin) Subversion as Foreign Policy: The Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia, New Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Rebellion to Integration: West Sumatra and the Indonesian Polity, 1926-1998, Amsterdam University Press (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1999.

(Under name Audrey R. Kahin; editor, with James T. Siegel) Southeast Asia over Three Generations, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), 2003.

(With Robert Cribb) Historical Dictionary of Indonesia, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2004.

Editor of journal Indonesia.

SIDELIGHTS:

Audrey Kahin, a scholar of Indonesia, looks critically at U.S. policy toward that nation in Subversion as Foreign Policy: The Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia, written with her husband, George M. Kahin. In 1957, fearing that Indonesian President Sukarno was too sympathetic to communism, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, along with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, Central Intelligence Agency chief Allen Dulles, began secretly aiding anti-Sukarno rebels from outside Java, the center of Indonesia's political and economic power. After much bloodshed by both soldiers and civilians, the rebellion failed, and Sukarno adopted a more dictatorial style of governing. A Publishers Weekly reviewer termed the Kahins' account "a disturbing, scholarly exposé" of events that "paved the way for the Indonesian army's massacre of half a million people in 1965-66 with Washington's support."

Kahin's next book, Rebellion to Integration: West Sumatra and the Indonesian Polity, 1926-1998, examines the West Sumatrans' resentment of centralized power in Java, especially in the aftermath of the crushed 1950s rebellion, and also explores their role in Indonesia's winning of independence from the Netherlands in 1949. The Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, she writes, have a far different vision of the ideal Indonesian state than do the Javanese. Where West Sumatra favors decentralization and egalitarianism, she writes, Java wants centralized power and hierarchy. Times Literary Supplement contributor Margaret Scott commented that Kahin "is right that the clash between a unitary and a more democratic view of the nation is one of Indonesia's central themes" and "that the triumph of centralized power has led to a cycle of authoritarian rule and rebellion." Scott, though, disagreed that cultural differences are at the root of Indonesia's problems. She noted that many others besides the Minangkabau have opposed centralized power. "Yet understanding the role of culture and history does matter," Scott added, "and Kahin's contribution is in showing how many nationalists from Minangkabau—none more than Mohammed Hatta, Sukarno's co-independence leader and Indonesia's first vice president—pushed for a decentralized, democratic state."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journal of American History, June, 1996, review of Subversion as Foreign Policy: The Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia, p. 283.

Publishers Weekly, March 27, 1995, review of Subversion as Foreign Policy, p. 68.

Times Literary Supplement, May 24, 1996, review of Subversion as Foreign Policy, p. 30; July 21, 2000, Margaret Scott, "Beyond the Dirty Wars?," pp. 26-27.