Jonathan Ritchie

Jonathan Ritchie is a Senior Lecturer in History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University.
In his teaching and research, he has helped to shape Deakin’s focus on using historical research to better comprehend contemporary social, political, and economic trends in Australia’s nearest neighbour and former colonial territory, Papua New Guinea (PNG). His doctorate from The University of Melbourne (2003) focused on the Papua New Guinean people’s participation in the development of their nation’s constitution for independence. Over the past decade, Jon has spent substantial periods of time living and working in PNG, where he primarily was involved in a major oral history research project on Papua New Guineans’ experiences of World War Two, collaborating with the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery as well as two of PNG’s most important universities. Since 2013, Jon also has participated in the education program associated with the introduction of large-scale cruise ship tourism in PNG, regularly presenting lectures and other educational activities for passengers.