Chris Foertsch

I begin my PhD work at UVic in Spring 2018 after completing a yearlong Fulbright Research Fellowship from the US State Department, where I conducted fieldwork about Eastern Indonesian university students who migrate to Java for higher education. During my time at UVic I hope to build on the ethnographic and observational data I collected on the islands of Java, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Kei, and elsewhere as a foundation for my dissertation and future research.  I earned an MA in Anthropology from Oregon State University in 2016 and have been working on projects related to Indonesian and American higher education since 2011. In my previous career I taught English for nearly 10 years at Highline College in Seattle, Washington, working with immigrants and refugees and coordinating projects related to international exchanges and vocational education. I also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, West Africa, and earned bachelor degrees in English and Spanish from the University of Washington.

Interests

Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Education, Migration, Multiculturalism, Ethnic & Religious Minorities

Publications

Foertsch, C. (2017). Postponing Labor in Fisheries, Tourism and Agriculture Sectors: Rural Eastern Indonesian University Students in Java. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 89, 012020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/89/1/012020

Foertsch, C. (2017, May 22). Outside In: Songs of Identity & Dignity for Eastern Indonesians in Java. Retrieved June 14, 2017, from http://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/content/outside-songs-identity-dignity-eastern-indonesians-java

Foertsch, C. R. (2016). Educational Migration in Indonesia: An Ethnography of Eastern Indonesian Students in Malang, Java. Retrieved from http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/59445