Martin Stuart-FoxFAHA (born 1939) is a retired Australian professor and foreign correspondent who writes about the history, politics and international relations of Southeast Asia, primarilyLaos.
After studying biological sciences at theUniversity of Queensland, Martin Stuart-Fox worked as a marine biologist inPapua New Guinea, then taught science inHong Kong. In 1963 he was employed by theU.S. Agency for International Development as an agricultural extension officer in Laos. There he began reporting forUnited Press International, initially as a stringer and then as a staff correspondent. In 1965 UPI assigned him to cover the war inVietnam. In Saigon, he shared a house with half a dozen other young journalists and photographers, including Steve Northup,Simon Dring,Tim Page andJoe Galloway. At the end of 1966, he left Vietnam for France and over the next five years freelanced, traveled, and studied in several countries.[1] In 1972, he was UPI correspondent in Dacca reporting on the birth of Bangladesh,
At the end of 1972, Martin Stuart-Fox returned to Australia, where after a brief stint in journalism, he began tutoring in Asian civilizations at the University of Queensland. After gaining an M.A. and Ph.D. in the philosophy and theory of history, he went on to become a professor and Head of History. He retired as professor emeritus in 2005, and is a Fellow of theAustralian Academy of the Humanities.[2] His research has focused on the history and politics of Laos,[3] on which he has written six books and more than fifty book chapters and articles, including theFreedom House section on Laos for 2011.[4] He has also written on Buddhist symbolism, the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia, and Chinese relations with Southeast Asia.
Historians of Southeast Asia often face problems in using terms drawn from and applicable to European polities and societies to refer to non-European equivalents that do not conform to European models.
