Abstract
The increasing interest of Yogyakarta’s urban middle class in making the umrah gives birth to some important questions especially which relates to the meaning for people beyond the trip itself. Informants of this research are practicing umrah for a certain regular time, such as once or twice a year. Considering the amount spent for an umrah trip, which is around US$ 2,000 – US$ 3,000, this practice is obviously expensive, compared to the average income for the middle class society in Indonesia, starting for a minimum of US$ 3,000 per year.
Berita Wednesday Forum
Abstract
Departed from the discussion of Religion and Science in the context of Islam and AIDS in this country, this research covers questions related to the complexity of AIDS realities in Indonesian Islam. Through the demonstration of the overlapping knowledge constructions of HIV & AIDS, this research does not only analyse the reciprocal influence of science and (religion) Islam at the level of knowledge constitution, but also accommodates the alternative medicines on AIDS as the synthesis and independent knowledge and reality.
Abstract
The presentation derived from my chapter with the similar title from a book edited by Yvonne Michalik, Indonesian Women Filmmakers, published in the end of 2013. This chapter is derived from my PhD research on women film directors and their films in post-New Order Indonesian Cinema. It deals with the subjectivity of women directors in relation to gender and feminism based on my interviews with 28 women directors I conducted during November 2009-April 2010. There were three groups of responses to questions posed about how their gender influenced their self-perception as film directors. The first group stated that there was no difference between women film directors and their male counterparts. The second argued that the identity of women automatically came to the foreground of being a film director. The third group saw differences between female and male film directors in specific situations. There were also three groups of responses to questions about feminism: some identified as feminist; some saw themselves as feminist but with qualifications; and some were not feminist. Those who claimed that they were not feminists, seem to have been trapped into a negative image of the term “feminist”. Indeed, these women directors did not share a common understanding of feminism.
Abstract
This presentation suggests that inter-religious dialogue is not limited to asserting common values, but also invites critical interaction on issues about which we differ. Is there any relevance of Christian beliefs in a Triune God when in dialogue with Muslims? This presentation suggests that the trinity is not primarily a metaphysical dogma, but rather a biblical story of a community’s experience of God’s suffering in human history. It is a rich source for a social imaginary of unity in diversity. Both Christians and Muslims imagine that the Great Oneness of God (Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa) can unify radically pluralistic societies. But different religious communities have different experiences of how God values and protects diversity.
This research tries to unpack Chinese-Indonesian-Christian in negotiating their identity in post Soeharto era. It focuses on the agency of Christianity in that identity negotiation. This ethnographic research was conducted in the Indonesian Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Indonesia, GKI) in Perniagaan Street, Jakarta.
Using the concept of hybridity, this research found that their identitities are heteregeneous, dynamic and ambivalent and there are continual tension and negotiation between Chineseness, Indonesianess and Christianity. That tension and negotiation produce hybrid self identification, i.e. Chinese Indonesian Christian. Relate to their hybrid self identification, Dutch Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism, functions as “third space” where their hybrid identification of Chinese Indonesian Christian is possible to take place. Beside that, in the Christian third space they can answer the existensial question of what it means to be Chinese Indonesian Christian in post Soeharto era.
Film has been an important cultural arena in which ideas about Islam and becoming good Muslims are constantly constituted and contested in contemporary Indonesia. Concerned with the social construction of masculinity and its intersection with religiosity, modernity, and globalization, my presentation explores the Muslim masculinity representations in four Indonesian films; Ayat-ayat Cinta (Verses of Love, 2008), Perempuan Berkalung Sorban (2009), Ketika Cinta Bertasbih (When Love Chants, 2010), Ketika Cinta Bertasbih 2 (When Love Chants 2, 2010). These films constitute and contest contemporary Muslim masculinity around uncertainties of modernity and globalization through their wrestles with contemporary gender issues to produce archetypes of new ideal Muslim men; young, urban, middle class, (foreign) educated, gentle towards women, and responsible head of the family. However, despite this representation of masculinity is deemed by scholars as “rediefining” the status-quo representations of Muslim masculinity produced during the New Order, I argue thet the power relation between Muslim men and women is represented is still being ambivalent as evident in the men’s ambivalent accaptance of women being more resourceful in religious knowledge, financial independence, and leadership skills. This ambivalence arguably reflects the contemporary Muslim middle class’ desire of departure from the image of “traditional Muslim” yet not wanting to give up the privilege being provided by status-quo.