Training on Contemporary Developments in Comparative Historical Analysis

The Summer Training on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods wherein Prof. Dan Slater, James Orin Murfin professor of political science, and director, Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED) of the University of Michigan, facilitated the session on Comparative Historical Analysis (CHA) was a success with a dozen plus participants from various backgrounds receiving direct training from 17 to 29 July 2023 in Universitas Islam International Indonesia (UIII). Prof. Slater also provided valuable feedback to several research projects during a dedicated workshop where an intensive interaction between the facilitator and the participants took place. The collaboration was made possible through the Fulbright Specialist program managed by the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF)-Fulbright Indonesia.

One workshop participant mentioned that she is working on a journal article draft and could use feedback from Prof. Slater, hence their reason for engaging in the workshop.

Training on Introduction to Comparative Historical Analysis

The visible enthusiasm, as well as the professional research background of the participants, attested to the necessity of the method training to the Indonesian audience.

In addition to being a facilitator in the CHA training, Prof. Slater also presented his newly published book (co-authored with Prof. Joseph Wong from the University of Toronto) titled From Development to Democracy: The Transformation of Modern Asia (Princeton University Press, 2022). During the book discussion, Prof. Slater demonstrated how to deploy the comparative historical method in analyzing important political phenomena such as democracy and the developmental state. The event was hosted by Dr. Djayadi Hanan from the Faculty of Social Sciences (FOSS) and was attended by UIII students as well as public participants.

Book Discussion

Prof. Slater also managed to facilitate another workshop on how to teach graduate students. Hosted by FOSS, the event was attended by faculty members at UIII from various departments. As faculty members shared their experiences regarding the challenges in teaching at the graduate level, Prof. Slater was very generous in providing advice based on his experience teaching at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan at Ann-Arbor. One important point that Prof. Slater underscored was faculty members should be able to be both a trainer (meaning be demanding in terms of the level of training) and a cheerleader (to be supportive) to their graduate students.

Workshop on Teaching Graduate Students

Given the success of the activities conducted with Prof. Slater, FOSS at UIII plans to continue the collaboration with the Fulbright Specialist. Several possible avenues of future collaboration include the following. First, the maintenance of a regular Fulbright Specialist facilitator in Summer Training on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. Second, the engagement of the Fulbright Specialist in helping to improve FOSS’ flagship journal, Muslim Politics Review. Lastly, a research collaboration between FOSS and the home institution of the Fulbright Specialist.

FOSS at UIII is eager to pursue this Fulbright Specialist opportunity due to its clear benefit to Indonesia’s social science research community. Research method training is a much-needed improvement to our community of researchers, as it will strengthen the quality of their research outputs and help them publish at the international level.

Welcome Dinner