Books

Buried Histories: The Anti-Communist Massacres of 1965-1966 in Indonesia. Madison, United States: University of Wisconsin Press, 2020. 376 pages. Paperback forthcoming late 2022. Indonesian translation forthcoming late 2022.

Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto's Coup d'État in Indonesia. Madison, United States: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. 328 pages. Indonesian translation: Dalih Pembunuhan Massal: Gerakan 30 September dan Kudeta Suharto. Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Social History and Hasta Mitra, 2008. 392 pages. A PDF of the Indonesian translation can be downloaded for free at: https://www.sejarahsosial.org/issi_pdf/DalihPembunuhanMassal.pdf

John Roosa, Ayu Ratih and Hilmar Farid, eds. Tahun yang Tak Pernah Berakhir: Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65: Esai-Esai Sejarah Lisan [The Year that Never Ended: Understanding the Experiences of the Victims of 1965: Oral History Essays]. Jakarta, Indonesia: Elsam, 2004. 253 pages. Japanese translation: インドネシア : 九・三〇事件と民衆の記憶 (Tōkyō : Akashi Shoten, 2009).

Book Chapters

“Indonesian Communism: The Perils of the Parliamentary Path,” The Cambridge History of Communism, volume 2, edited by N. Naimark, S. Pons, S. Quinn-Judge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 467-490. Indonesian translation: https://indoprogress.com/2021/10/komunisme-indonesia-jalan-parlementer-yang-sarat-marabahaya/

“Conflicts within nations: separatism, civil war, and genocide,” in Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian History, edited by Norman Owen (London: Routledge, 2013), pp. 108-118.

“Framing the Killings, Framing Up the Communists,” in 1965: Indonesia and the World, edited by Bernd Schaefer and Baskara T. Wardaya (Jakarta: Gramedia, 2013), pp. 21-42.

“Introduction to the Indonesian translation of Pretext for Mass Murder". Dalih Pembunuhan Massal: Gerakan 30 September dan Kudeta Suharto. Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Social History and Hasta Mitra, 2008. xv - xxiii.

“The September 30th Movement: The Aporias of the Official Narratives,” in The Contours of Mass Violence in Indonesia 1965-68, edited by Douglas Kammen and Katherine McGregor (Singapore: NUS Press and NIAS Press, in association with the Asian Studies Association of Australia, 2012), pp. 25-49.

John Roosa (50%) and Ayu Ratih (50%), “Sejarah Lisan di Indonesia dan Kajian Subjektivitas [Oral History in Indonesia and the Study of Subjectivity]”, in Perspektif Baru Penulisan Sejarah Indonesia, edited by H.S. Nordholt, B. Purwanto, and R. Saptari. Jakarta, Indonesia: Yayasan Obor, KITLV, 2008: 177-200.

with Aquino Hayunta. ""Riungan dan Tegar Hati: Bekal Bertahar di Tengah Kegilaan" [Solidarity and a Sturdy Heart: Staying Sane in Insane Conditions]." Tahun yang Tak Pernah Berakhir: Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65: Esai-Esai Sejarah Lisan. Jakarta, Indonesia: Elsam, 2004. 113 - 138.

“Victory over a Life of Living Death.” Translation of a Hindi speech by S.G. Niyogi, with an introduction. Midnight Notes, Auroras of the Zapatistas. New York: Autonomedia, 2001.

“Orientalism, Political Economy and the Canonization of Indian Civilization." Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of the Concept of Western Civilization and Its Others. Ed. Silvia Federici. Westport: Praeger, 1995: 137 - 159.

“The Plague in Jammu.” Translation of an Urdu short story. Muhammad Memon, ed., Domains of Fear and Desire: Urdu Stories. Toronto: Toronto South Asia Review, 1992: 12 - 22.

Journal Articles

“The State of Knowledge about an Open Secret: Indonesia’s Mass Disappearances of 1965-66,” Journal of Asian Studies 75:2 (2016), pp. 281-297. The article has been translated into Indonesian: http://www.sejarahsosial.org/?p=702

“Interview with Joshua Oppenheimer,” Rethinking History (2014), pp. 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2014.898422

“Who Knows? Oral History Methods in the Study of the Massacres of 1965-66 in Indonesia,” Oral History Forum/ d’histoire orale 33 (2013), pp. 1-28. http://www.oralhistoryforum.ca/index.php/ohf/article/view/528

“The Truths of Torture: Victims’ Memories and State Histories in Indonesia,” Indonesia no. 85 (April 2008): 31-49.

“Obituary: Suharto (June 8, 1921 – January 27, 2008)”, Indonesia no. 85 (April 2008): 137-143. A shorter version originally appeared as an e-journal article: "Suharto (1921-2008): A Career Soldier Who Commanded a Country," Inside Indonesia. 91 (January-March 2008). http://insideindonesia.org/content/view/1039/142/.

“Finalizing the Nation: The Indonesian Military as the Guarantor of National Unity". Asia Pacific Viewpoint. 48.1 (April 2007): 99 - 111. Indonesian translation: “Militer Indonesia sebagai Penjamin Kesatuan Nasional." Geoffrey Hainsworth and Bakti Setiawan, eds., Drama Indonesia: Ketidakpastian dalam Dunia yang Mengglobal [The Indonesian Drama: Uncertainty in a Globalizing World] (Yogyakarta: University of Gadjah Mada Press, 2007): 147-158.

“How Does a Truth Commission Find Out What the Truth Is?: The Case of East Timor's CAVR." Pacific Affairs. 80.4 (2007): 569-580.

“Introduction to Special Forum on East Timor's Truth Commission". Pacific Affairs. 80.4 (2007): 563-567.

“When the Subaltern Took the Postcolonial Turn". Online Journal of the Canadian Historical Association. 17.2 (2007): 130 - 147.

“Passive Revolution Meets Peasant Revolution: The Indian Nationalist Movement and the Telangana Revolt." Journal of Peasant Studies. 28.4 (July 2001).

with Ayu Ratih. "Introduction to Japanese translation of Tahun Yang Tak Pernah Berakhir". Contemporary Women’s History in Asia (Osaka University). Issue 2 (2006): 86 - 110.

Under the pseudonym Samuel Moore: "The Indonesian Military's Last Years in East Timor: An Analysis of Its Secret Documents." Indonesia. no. 72 (October 2001): 9-44.

with Ayu Ratih. "Solipsism or Solidarity: The Nation, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and Salman Rushdie". Economic and Political Weekly. 36.28 (July 14, 2001).

“The Port of Tuban.” Translation of a chapter from Pramoedya Ananta Toer's book Arus Balik, with an introduction. Emergences. 10.2 (2000).

Short Essays

“The Fantasy World of the US Empire,” Catalyst, vol. 3, no. 1 (Spring 2019), 163-182. Review of: Max Boot, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam (New York: Norton, 2018); and Brian VanDeMark, Road to Disaster: A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam (New York: Custom House, 2018).

Obituary, Benedict Anderson, Against the Current (September-October 2016) number 184. Indonesian translation online: Indoprogess, August 29, 2016: https://indoprogress.com/2016/08/obituari-benedict-anderson-1936-2015/ Reposted on: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/4759.html

Introduction to the pamphlet containing the Indonesian translation of an article by Ruth McVey: Mengajarkan Modernitas: PKI Sebagai Sebuah Lembaga Pendidikan (Jakarta: Indoprogress, 2016).

“The Executioners’ Masks,” Critical Asian Studies 46: 1 (2014), pp. 179-182.

“Siauw Giok Tjhan dan Negara Hukum,” in Siauw Giok Tjhan: Orang Indonesia, 100 Tahun, edited by Siauw Tiong Djin (Hong Kong: Yayasan Teratai, 2014), pp. 146-163. The book was also published in a Chinese-language edition.

Interview with Indoprogress, September 17, 2012: https://indoprogress.com/2012/09/wawancara-2/

“Le Dernier Combat de Soekarno,” Le Banian (Paris), no. 12 (December 2011), pp. 106-118.

“Review Essay: President Sukarno and the September 30th Movement". Critical Asian Studies. 40.1 (March 2008): pp. 143 - 159. Review of: H. Hunter, Sukarno and the Indonesian Coup; A. Dake, The Sukarno File; V. Fic, Anatomy of the Jakarta Coup.

“Review Essay: Violence and the Suharto Regime's Wonderland". Critical Asian Studies. 35.2 (June 2003): 315-323. Review of: R. Elson, Suharto: A Political Biography and B. Anderson, ed., Violence and the State in Suharto's Indonesia.

Book and Film Reviews

Review of the film Look of Silence, in Pacific Affairs, vol. 90, no. 1 (March 2017), pp. 220-222.

Review of the film The Act of Killing, in Pacific Affairs 87:2 (June 2014), pp. 408-410.

Dan Slater, Ordering power: Contentious politics and authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 167:4 (2011), pp. 519-522. In symposium on the book with reply by Slater.

C.W. Watson, Of Self and Injustice: Autobiography and Repression in Modern Indonesia (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2006) Pacific Affairs. 80.3 (December 2007): 547-548.

Ariel Heryanto, State Terrorism and Political Identity in Indonesia: Fatally Belonging (London: Routledge, 2006). Pacific Affairs 79.1 (Spring 2006), 154-155.

James Siegel, Naming the Witch (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006). Pacific Affairs. 79.3 (Fall 2006): 563-564.

Anna-Greta Nilsson Hoadley, Indonesian Literature vs. New Order Orthodoxy: The Aftermath of 1965-1966 (Copenhagen: NIAS, 2005). Pacific Affairs. 78.4 (March 2006): 684-686.

Theodore Friend, Indonesian Destinies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003). Pacific Affairs 77.2 (Summer 2004): 376-377.

Donald Freeman, The Straits of Malacca: Gateway or Gauntlet (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003). The University of Toronto Quarterly 74.1 (2004/2005): 528-530.

George Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University, 2003). Itinerario. 29.1 (2005): 185-188.

David Bourchier and Vedi Hadiz, eds., Indonesian Politics and Society: A Reader (New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003). Pacific Affairs 77.3 (Fall 2004): 603-604.

E Journal Articles

“Sukarno’s Two Bodies,” New Mandala (Australian National University), May 26, 2014. This 2,400-word article was a comment on the Indonesian presidential elections. http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/05/26/sukarnos-two-bodies/

“No More Excuses,” International People’s Tribunal website. 1,300 word essay. https://www.tribunal1965.org/no-more-excuses/ Indonesian translation: https://www.tribunal1965.org/en/no-more-excuses-2/

“Dictionary of a Disaster,” Inside Indonesia, Issue 99, January-March 2010: http://www.insideindonesia.org/index.php/feature/1273-dictionary-of-a-disaster

“Bibliography on the Events of 1965-66 in Indonesia.” Posted on the website of the Indonesian Institute of Social History, February 2010: http://sejarahsosial.org/?p=38

“The Tsunami and Military Rule: Aceh’s Duel Disasters,” Counterpunch, January 12, 2005; http://www.counterpunch.org/roosa01122005.html

with Joseph Nevins, “The Mass Killings in Indonesia: 40 Years Later” Counterpunch, November 5, 2005; http://www.counterpunch.org/roosa11052005.html

Newspaper Articles

Op-ed: “Prevent Recurrence of ‘An Event Like This,’” Jakarta Post, October 2, 2015. In print and online editions: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/10/02/insight-prevent-recurrence-event-but-which-one.html

“Book Banning in Indonesia: A Blast from the Past.” Jakarta Post, January 13, 2010. Op-ed. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/13/book-banning-indonesia-a-blast-past.html

“PKI Politburo, Njoto and G30S,” Tempo (English edition), October 6-12, 2009, pp. 56-57. Also appeared in Indonesian language edition.

"Kesaksian Sjam (Sjam's Testimony)". Tempo (weekly magazine). Jakarta, Indonesia. (November 17-23, 2008). pp. 58 - 59. Also online: http://majalah.tempointeraktif.com/id/arsip/2008/11/17/LK/mbm.20081117.LK128763.id.html

"Dongeng Berhias Catatan Kaki [Fairy-tales Adorned with Footnotes]." Kompas. Jakarta, Indonesia. March 18, 2006: p. 40. Also online: http://www2.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0603/18/pustaka/2518764.htm

"East Timor's Bloodiest Tradition.” Translation of an essay by Aniceto Guterres. New York Times. May 5, 1999, op-ed page.

"Fatal Trust in Timor." New York Times, September 15, 1999, op-ed page.