[Obituary] Jan Wisseman Christie (1947–2021)

via Indonesia and the Malay World, 27 Sep 2021: An obituary of Jan Wisseman Christie in the journal Indonesia and the Malay World who passed away earlier this year

Jan’s first publications were in the field of archaeology rather than history. She participated in an early expedition to explore the Palembang area in South Sumatra in search of evidence for the existence of the kingdom of Srivijaya. The expedition did not find what it was searching for, but it did inspire other archaeologists to pursue the inquiry.

Jan continued to devote attention to regions on the periphery of Java. In addition to the history of metal-working in Sarawak, she wrote articles on Sanskrit inscriptions in peninsular Malaysia, and Tamil inscriptions in Sumatra, Thailand, and China which are still key publications. Though much of her data came from inscriptions, she always viewed them through the lens of the insights they could provide into general theoretical issues popular among Southeast Asian historical archaeologists, including water and irrigation, trading patterns, settlement patterns, and textiles. Her interest in epigraphy lay not in linguistics but in the integration of texts and artifacts. As a result, her publications are frequently cited by archaeologists working in all parts of Southeast Asia.

She was a highly collegial scholar. In the best collaborative tradition, she often circulated preliminary drafts of her work in order to invite comment and critique. Some of her major contributions were only circulated in draft form.

Source: Full article: Jan Wisseman Christie (1947–2021)