Academic Journey of Arndt Graf

Abstract

Academic Encounters

Following mandatory military service (1983-1985) in which I served in the medic corps, I enrolled in the "Department of Indonesian and South Sea Languages" at the University of Hamburg. I chose the university because of its longstanding tradition of Indonesian and Malay studies. My main study programme was "Austronesian Languages and Cultures", while my two side subjects were "Political Science", with a focus on North-South relations, and "Economics", with a specialisation in "Economics of Development". At our Department, lecturers such as the late Drs. Dami N. Toda from Flores, Dr. Peter Pink (later professor in Cologne), and the late Prof. Dr. Rainer Carle were highly important for me, and they passed down a lot of information about the ins and outs of our field, that went beyond the normal instruction.