My name is Richard Fox and this is my homepage, which is devoted to the study of religion, media and performance in South and Southeast Asia. In addition to the materials on this site, I also maintain a blog linked to my ongoing research project on small-scale ceremonial rites in a southern Balinese household.
In 2002 I completed my doctorate in Anthropology and Religious Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), and have subsequently taught at Williams College and the University of Chicago.
Having recently completed ten months’ fieldwork under the auspices of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, I am presently a research associate in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. My primary research and teaching interests lie in the historical and ethnographic study of South and Southeast Asian religions, with a special emphasis on media and performance in Indonesia and the Malay region.
My first book, Critical Reflections on Religion and Media in Contemporary Bali was published this year in the Numen Series in the History of Religions (Leiden: Brill). It examines some of the ways in which Balinese have come to understand themselves as adherents to a modern, state-sanctioned form of Hinduism through practices mediated by text, television and improvisational theatre.
I have a strong interest in theoretical issues in anthropology, the history of religions and cultural studies, and am currently working on a collaborative project called Public Life as Performance with colleagues in Indonesia, the Netherlands, UK and Australia.
In addition to an edited volume on Entertainment Media in Indonesia (Routledge 2008, with Mark Hobart), my most recent publications have appeared in History of Religions, Modern Asian Studies, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Asian Journal of Communication, and the Jurnal Kajian Bali.
Link to professional website.
