Welcome! My name is Benjamin Moseley. I received a Ph.D. from in the Department of History at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. My dissertation examined the patterns of conversion and the relationships between Christianity, Islam, and local beliefs in eastern Indonesian between the fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Prior to arriving at the University of Hawaiʻi, I received an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Washington in 2016.
You can read my CV here.
My dissertation is titled “Conversion and Power at the ‘Ends of the Earth’:
Islam, Christianity, and Localization in Southeast Asia’s Eastern Archipelago, 1450–1620″. You can access my dissertation here.
Currently, my research focuses on the processes and patterns of conversion to Christianity and, to a lesser degree, Islam in Maritime Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean World, more broadly, during the early modern period (c. 1500-1800). I am interested in how religious practices were assimilated into local systems of belief and ritual. In addition, I research the ways in which these processes of conversion interacted with preexisting cultural and diplomatic networks and the expansion of European regional presences. I have lived and taught in Indonesia (specifically Maluku province), where I direct much of my attention.
Aside from pursuing my own research interests, I am eager to explore broader topics in world history, Southeast Asian Studies, and the role of historians in greater society and popular culture. In this blog, I hope to make these topics accessible to anyone interested these subjects, including historians, students, my friends and family, and everyone else.
Thank you for reading!
Benjamin Moseley
You can contact me at benjaminlmoseley@gmail.com or bmoseley@hawaii.edu.
Benjamin L. Moseley 