Michael D. Barr is an Australian historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 with expertise in the modern political histories of Malaysia and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. Most well-known for his work on Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...

 (Lee Kuan Yew: The Beliefs Behind The Man), Barr has also written on the Asian Values

Asian values

Asian values was a concept that came into vogue briefly in the 1990s to justify authoritarian regimes in Asia, predicated on the belief in the existence within Asian countries of a unique set of institutions and political ideologies which reflected the region's culture and history...

 debate of the 1990s.

Barr's work focuses on ethnicity in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

, however he also teaches classes on genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

.

He was recently appointed as a faculty member of Flinders University

Flinders University

Flinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...

 to teach international relations

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

,http://underhill.auth.flinders.edu.au:7778/pls/portal/MIS_APPS.DYN_FLIND_Q.show?p_arg_names=ouid&p_arg_values=1912&p_arg_names=staffid&p_arg_values=189767 having previously taught at the University of Queensland

University of Queensland

The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...

.

Publications

• Barr, Michael D. 2000. Lee Kuan Yew: The Beliefs Behind The Man. Georgetown University Press.
• Barr, Michael D. 2002. Cultural Politics and Asian Values: The Tepid War. RoutledgeCurzon.

External links

• Barr's page at the University of Queensland