CRCS Research

1. Human and Nature in Indonesia

Between 2019 and 2023, the Humans and Nature in Indonesia (HANI) team at Universitas Gadjah Mada conducted a large-scale survey to explore faith-based support for nature preservation. The team used an existing Humans and Nature scale, originally developed at Radboud University Nijmegen, with which they intensively collaborate. Assuming that people in Indonesia are overwhelmingly religious and vulnerable to natural disasters, the HANI team elaborated on the original HAN scale adding context-dependent items. The researchers conducted 1105 structured interviews and 115 in-depth interviews, in Aceh, Jambi, Samarinda, Kupang, Denpasar, Surabaya, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta. Currently, the team is analyzing and interpreting the data, and reporting the findings.

The team welcomes new (senior and junior) researchers to join the HANI research by either analyzing existing data (per location or category, for example, youngsters, women, villagers) or generating new data using the HANI scale in different locations. If you are interested please contact: zainalbagir@ugm.ac.id, samsul.maarif75@ugm.ac.id, or franswijsen@ugm.ac.id

For more information see:

2. Dialogue Moves: Embodying Diversity through Amerta Movement in Indonesia (2022 – 2023)

Suprapto Suryodarmo is an internationally recognised figure in the field of dance and somatic practices who worked with diversity in arts at his organisation Lemah Putih in Java; and this research examines the legacy of his work in movement as a form of dialogue. In particular, the role of embodiment was analysed, not just in relation to the physical appearance of the body, but rather how it is felt and experienced, to understand ‘how people know the world through their bodies, particularly through movement in space’ (Wilde 2003, 171). Furthermore, this research investigates how Amerta Movement practice supports dialogue between diverse ethnic and religious communities in Indonesia. This is especially important in a country where ‘unity in diversity’ is the national motto. As the fourth most populated country in the world, Indonesia has around 500 native ethnic groups, creating a distinctly plural society living in close proximity (Butler 2016, 4). The main aim of the research is to stimulate wider debate on what dance practices and research can contribute in understanding cross-community dialogue as a set of movement practices.

Researcher: Dr. Emma Meehan (Center for Dance Research Coventry University, UK)

Collaborators: Dr. Samsul Maarif  (Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia) & Dr. Diane Butler (Intl. Foundation for Dharma Nature Time)

Further information about program, click here

Published works and events:

Reports: 

Srawung Rukun:

3. How environmental social movements use religious creativity in Indonesia (2021 – 2023)

This research project examines how environmental social movements in Indonesia employ creative adaptation of religious beliefs and practices to encourage changes in environmental behaviour. Specifically, this study aims to understand: 1) which specific religious and cultural values movements drawn upon, and how these values are articulated and embedded; 2) to what extent local communities direct the process of adaptation based on their own values and worldviews; 3) how power differences between activists and local communities are addressed; 4) how opposition to change is managed and adapted, and 5) what new forms of religious and cultural environmental practices result from these movements. In so doing, this study will contribute to the development of a robust evidence base about social movements and community-based responses to climate change, a resource which can be accessed by academics and activists alike. This two-year project has four objectives for conducting a robust study and sharing findings. It employs a mixed-methods approach combining primary empirical research and synthetic analysis of existing studies.

Researchers: Jonathan Smith(Leeds University, UK), Ronald Adam (CRCS UGM), Samsul Maarif (CRCS UGM). 

Published works and events:

4. Modern Endangered Archives Program: Recovering Chinese Religions Printed Materials in Central Java (2023 – 2024)

The project aims to digitize Chinese religions printed materials in Malay and Indonesian language, dated from 1900s to 1998. Since the Dutch colonial period, Chinese communities have used magazines and periodicals to promote their religions, which include Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, or the syncretic form of the three religions, which is commonly called Tridharma (Three Teachings). The publications continued in early post-colonial Indonesia (1945-1965). During the New Order regime (1966-1998), Soeharto oppressed Chinese cultural and religious expressions in the public sphere to accelerate Indonesian nationalism. Even worse, Soeharto degraded Confucianism as a sect. During this period, the Chinese religious communities maintained and circulated the periodicals internally. When the oppression grew stronger, many temples concealed and/or abandoned their collections, which made these periodicals damaged.

PI: Evi Sutrisno (the Faculty of Sosial and Political Science Gadjah Mada University)

Research Supervisor: Rezza Maulana & Haetam

Research Assistance: Astrid Syifa Salsabila, Refan Aditya, Yohanes Babtista Lemuel Christandi, Ferry Mahulette

5. Bissu, Haji, dan Kewarganegaraan: Calabai Becoming the Hajj: a socio-cultural and religious strategy for rights fulfillment and social inclusion (2022-2023)

Trans People Making the Hajj to Mecca

Trans people in Indonesia have fought long and hard for social inclusion. In the town of Segeri in South Sulawesi, trans people have pro-actively sought such inclusion through making the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) and becoming recognised as a haji. This article draws on fieldwork conducted in Segeri with trans people preparing for, or who had already completed, the hajj. For these trans people, the hajj enables recognition as a legitimate part of Muslim Segeri society. After completing the hajj, trans people may be invited to take leading religious roles in Segeri ceremonies such as mappeca sure’ (a ritual commemorating the parting of the Red Sea by Moses, known in Arabic as Ashura) and assalama (a blessing and salvation ritual). Trans people in Segeri frame their pilgrimage to Mecca as a strategic model that other trans Indonesians can follow to gain social acceptance. This article focuses on the stories of two trans groups: bissu (transgender spiritual leaders) and calabai (trans women). It examines how the hajj enables trans people in Segeri to confirm themselves as good Muslims worthy of social acceptance.

Published work

6. Indonesian Pluralities (2019-2022)

Indonesian Pluralities is a film, print, and multimedia project for educators, journalists, NGOs, and policy analysts on cultural and religious diversity, democracy, and civic co-existence in contemporary Indonesia. It explores Indonesia’s religious and ethnic plurality in both its rich promise and ongoing challenges. This four years project is a collaboration between the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Graduate School, Gadjah Mada University; the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University; and the WatchdoC Documentary. The project was supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, New York.

Published Works and Events:

  • Films: 
  • Books
    • Indonesian Pluralities: Islam, Citizenship, and Democracy (eds. Robert W. Hefner & Zainal Abidin Bagir; Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2021.)
    • Indonesian Pluralities (will be published in 2024)