Dr Helen Creese

Honorary Associate Professor

School of Languages and Cultures
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Overview

Associate Professor Helen Creese’s research interests include Balinese textual and literary traditions, Balinese history and historiography and gender. Her research spans historical and contemporary periods. It draws extensively on indigenous textual traditions written in Indonesian, Balinese, Old Javanese as well as colonial sources in Dutch and French. Her publications include translations of both classical and modern texts.

She is the author of Bali in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Ethnographic Accounts of Pierre Dubois (2016); Women of the Kakawin World: Marriage and Sexuality in the Indic Courts of Java and Bali (2004); Guide and Index to the Hooykaas-Ketut Sangka Balinese Manuscript Collection in the Australian National University Library (2004); and Parthayana: The Journeying of Partha. An Eighteenth-Century Balinese Kakawin (1998). She has co-edited 'The Stigmatisation of Widows and Divorcees (janda) in Indonesian Society,' Special Issue of Indonesia and the Malay World (with Lyn Parker, 2016); From Langka Eastwards: The Ramayana in the Literature and Visual Arts of Indonesia (with Andrea Acri and Arlo Griffiths, 2011); 'Gender, Text, Performance and Agency in Asian Cultural Contexts,' Special Issue of Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific (with Rosie Roberts, 2008); Seabad Puputan Bali: Perspektif Belanda dan Bali (with Henk Schulte Nordholt and Darma Putra 2006); and 'Old Javanese Texts and Culture,' Special Issue of Bijdragen tot de Taal , Land- en Volkenkunde (with Willem Van der Molen, 2001).

Her current research projects include an investigation into textual traditions, identity and cultural production in contemporary Bali, a literary history of Bali, and a number of projects on precolonial Balinese history.

She was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Humanities of Australia in 2007. She serves on an number of editorial advisory boards including the Southeast Asian Publications Series of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Asian Studies Review, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific and Indonesia and the Malay World.

Research Interests

  • Identity and media in Bali
  • Balinese history
  • Balinese and Javanese literature
  • Gender in Indonesia

Qualifications

  • Australian Academy of the Humanities, Australian Academy of the Humanities
  • Postgraduate Diploma
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, Australian National University

Publications

View all Publications

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Bronner, Yigal, Creese, Helen and Hunter, Thomas M. (2023). The Mirror of the practice: Indic models internalized in the Indonesian Archipelago. A Lasting Vision: Dandin’s Mirror in the World of Asian Letters. (pp. 412-465) New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197642924.003.0009

  • Creese, Helen (2018). The death of Salya: Balinese textual and iconographic representations of the Kakawin Bharatayuddha. Traces of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in Javanese and Malay Literature. (pp. 137-179) edited by Ding Choo Ming and Willem van der Molen. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing.

  • Creese, Helen (2016). Im-Materiality: where have all the aksara gone?. The materiality and efficacy of Balinese letters: situating scriptural practices. (pp. 166-190) edited by Richard Fox and Annette Hornbacher. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004326828_008

  • Creese, Helen (2011). Ramayana traditions in Bali. From Laṅkā eastwards: The Rāmāyaṇa in the Literature and Visual Arts of Indonesia. (pp. 93-118) edited by Andrea Acri, Helen Creese and Arlo Griffiths. Leiden, Netherlands: KITLV Press. doi: 10.1163/9789004253766_006

  • Creese, H. (2009). Singing the text: On-air textual interpretation in Bali. Lost Times and Untold Tales from the Malay World. (pp. 210-226) edited by Putten, J. van der and Kilcline Cody, M.. Singapore: NUS Press.

  • Creese, Helen (2006). Badad Arya Tabanan. Seabad puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bali. (pp. 187-195) edited by Helen Creese, Darma Putra and Henk Schulte Nordholt. Denpasar, Bali: KITLV Jakarta, Universitas Udayana, Pustaka Larasan.

  • Creese, H. M. (2006). Buku catatan harian perang Badung 1906. Seabad Puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bali. (pp. 111-124) edited by H. Creese, D. Putra and H. Schulte Nordholt. Denpasar, Bali: KITLV Jakarta, Universitas Udayana, Pustaka Larasan.

  • Creese, H. M. (2006). Cerita seorang wanita hamil muda tentang Puputan Badung. Seabad Puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bali. (pp. 165-186) edited by H. Creese, D. Putra and H. Schulte Nordholt. Denpasar, Bali: KITLV Jakarta, Universitas Udayana, Pustaka Larasan.

  • Creese, H M (2006). Kidung (Geguritan) Bhuwanawinasa. Seabad Puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bali. (pp. 125-164) edited by H. Creese, D. Putra and H. Schulte Nordholt. Denpasar, Bali: KITLV Jakarta, Universitas Udayana, Pustaka Larasan.

  • Creese, Helen (2006). Puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bal) should read: Seabad Puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bali. Puputan Badung: Perspektif Belanda dan Bal. (pp. 125-164) Denpasar, Bali: KITLV Jakarta, Universitas Udayana, Pustaka Larasan.

  • Creese, H. M., Putra, D. and Schulte Nordholt, H. (2006). Satu Perang, Dua Perspektif. Seabad Pupatan Badung: Perspectif Belanda dan Bali. (pp. xi-xxii) edited by H. Creese, D. Putra and H. Schulte Nordholt. Denpasar, Bali: KITLV Jakarta, Universitas Udayana, Pustaka Larasan.

  • Creese, H. M. (2000). In search of Majapahit: The transformation of Balinese identities. To Change Bali: Essays in Honour of I Gusti Ngurah Bagus. (pp. 15-46) edited by A. Vickers, I. N. Putra and M. Forde. Wollongong: Bali Post, Uni. Wollongong.

  • Creese, Helen (1997). New kingdoms, old concerns: Balinese identities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The last stand of Asian autonomies: responses to modernity in the diverse states of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750–1900. (pp. 345-366) edited by Anthony Reid. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan . doi: 10.1007/978-1-349-25760-7_14

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Creese, H. M. (2004). Three transitional texts: Turn of the century Balinese views of the world. 15th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), Canberra, Australia, 29 June-2 July 2004. Canberra, Australia: Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA).

  • Creese, Helen (2003). Kakawin Sebagai Sumber Sejarah Sosial Nusantara. Simposium Internasional Pernaskahan Nusantara Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, 27-29 July, 2003. not found: not found.

  • Creese, H. M. (2002). Women, tradition and reformation in Bali. After Sovereignty: Nation and Place (Asian Studies Association of Australia), Hobart, 30th June - 3rd July 2002. Hobart: Asian Studies Association of Australia.

  • Creese, H. M. (2000). Inside the 'Inner Court' : The world of women in Balinese Kidung poetry. Engendering Early Modern Southeast Asian History, University of Hawaii, 20-22 March, 1998. Honolulu: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Uni. Hawaii.

Edited Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Completed Supervision