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Wednesday Forum News

Dialogue Moves: Practicing Research with Amerta Movement

Berita Wednesday ForumUncategorizedWednesday Forum News Thursday, 24 August 2023

Dialogue Moves: Practicing Research with Amerta Movement

Wednesday Forum – 30 August 2023

I have been undertaking a fellowship that investigates how Amerta Movement practice (developed by Javanese movement artist Suprapto Suryodarmo) supports dialogue between diverse ethnic and religious communities in Indonesia. This has been done in collaboration with Samsul Maarif (CRCS, UGM), Diane Butler (Dharma Nature Time), and artists who worked closely with Pak Prapto. Engaging with CRCS has prompted me to reconsider research methodologies from my own field of dance studies and their potential contribution to religious and cross-cultural studies. In particular, the area of practice research in performing arts explores how engagement in creative practice has the potential to develop new ways of knowing. I will share how my own bodily experience and creative responses have lent themselves towards new understandings of the research enquiry on dialogue through the Amerta Movement. Finally, I consider what practice research might offer a researcher engaging in dialogue across differences, inspired by Kershaw’s call for the ‘profound challenge to established modes of knowledge production in universities that the creative impulse in practice might, at its best, always produce’ (2009, 5).

Politics, Court, and Religion in India

Berita Wednesday ForumWednesday Forum News Thursday, 24 August 2023

Politics, Court, and Religion in India

Wednesday Forum – 17 May 2023

The Supreme Court of India examines the constitutionality of the Talaq-e-biddat, a practice to seek divorce among the Muslims in India. Seeking a remedy to this practice, the petitioner appeals that the court should declare it invalid because it is gender discriminatory, arbitrary, and is not an essential part of the religion. Through the majority judgment, Talaq-e-biddat is set aside, which is based on the essential religious practice test and doctrine of arbitrariness. This case engages questions of gender equality, right to religion, and authority of the judiciary to intervene in the personal laws. While engaging with the Article 25 on religious freedom, this paper aims to argue that the liberal rights are used by citizens to claim religious rights. It shows the politics of society in India which is influenced by the majority religion. It does so by conducting an in-depth textual analysis of the Triple Talaq case record and interviews conducted with lawyers, journalists, and activists.

Illness as Interreligious Encounter: A Study from Religiously-Affiliated Hospitals

Berita Wednesday ForumUncategorizedWednesday Forum News Tuesday, 11 April 2023

Illness as Interreligious Encounter: A Study from Religiously-Affiliated Hospitals

Wednesday Forum – 12 April 2023

Everyone, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, and social status, is vulnerable to illness. Illness is a part of universal and inevitable of human fragility. One of main need of people who are ill, is a healthcare service which is generally provided by the hospital. Hence, illness is not only a complex medical and biological analyses that require objective evidence of malfunction at the microscopic level, but illness is also a social event. However, within hospital patients not only get healthcare service patients but that moment also potentially exposes them to greater diversity. Human encounter within hospital can be more challenging and interesting when the hospital is religiously affiliated hospital, because the religious conviction of the patient and the hospital are the basis for interreligious encounter. What kind of dynamics can occur in interreligious encounters within religiously affiliated hospitals? Can illness as human fragility and encounters within religiously affiliated hospitals strengthen interreligious relations?

Queering Interfaith Dialogue in Indonesia; Reimagining Inclusive Theology toward Diverse Faiths, Genders and Sexualities

Berita Wednesday ForumWednesday Forum News Friday, 31 March 2023

Queering Interfaith Dialogue in Indonesia; Reimagining Inclusive Theology toward Diverse Faiths, Genders and Sexualities

Wednesday Forum – 29 March 2023

Religions and queer identities are often purportedly seen as antithetical to each other, impossible to reconcile, and harshly incompatible to be openly and mutually ‘holding hands’ with each other. The misconceptions that religions and faiths cannot accept and support queer identities are pervasive that it systematically victimizes and marginalizes the life of many queer people. Yet in Indonesia, despite mainstream conservative attitude toward queer identities, queer-inclusive voices coming from faith leaders and queer activists are resisting and challenging the status quo. “Queering Interfaith Dialogue in Indonesia” is a master’s thesis of Amar Alfikar, a trans man Muslim activist who has been working in the last 7 years to advocate queer-of-faith activism in Muslim contexts.

Enduring the Gimmicks and Polemics: Digital Performance of Religious Minorities During the Pandemic

Berita Wednesday ForumWednesday Forum News Monday, 27 February 2023

Enduring the Gimmicks and Polemics: Digital Performance of Religious Minorities During the Pandemic

Wednesday Forum – 01 March 2023

Despite the constitutional safeguard of Indonesia’s constitution, they were enshrined in Art. 28E, 28I, and 29, the freedom of religious expression is complicated. Many religious minority communities and irreligious individuals were suffering discrimination. The burden is manifold for those beyond the fringe of six government-sponsored religions, such as Baha’ism, Sikhism, Taoism, Judaism, ancestral faiths, and many spiritual movements (Penghayat).
The COVID-19 pandemic surprisingly encouraged social solidarity, often to the point of interfaith engagement. Despite numerous reports of women, diffables (disabilities), and other marginal groups encountering challenges, they, including religious minorities, immediately tuned in and found a decent place within the solidarity. Pandemics forced religion to immerse into the digital realm much deeper, along with its painful consequences. For sure, it cast a long shadow on digital engagements, while marginal communities could and probably would embrace it in the coming days of post-pandemic.
The reality on the ground is complicated. The digital platform, which includes numerous digital services, including social media (socmed), once offered hope for a more democratic social space and a place for minority groups to express their religiosity much freer. On the other hand, it is growing to embrace the democratic nemesis, such as becoming hate-speech and other digital illnesses enablers.
Against the above complicated and contradictory situation, between promise and unpropitious situation, there is an urgency to gauge the digital performance of religious minority communities during the pandemic. The present paper focuses on religious minority communities’ experiences in digital engagement, ranging from Confucians to Penghayat.

Dragon Nests below the Wind: the history and diversity of Chinatowns in the Archipelago

Berita Wednesday ForumWednesday Forum News Friday, 24 February 2023

Dragon Nests below the Wind: the History and Diversity of Chinatowns in the Archipelago

Wednesday Forum – 22 February 2023

This talk is based on the thoughts and findings gathered during the research conducted in Chinatowns on five islands: Riau, Bangka Belitung, Java, Madura and Timor. By observing its cultural background and practices, this research aims to learn the history of the formation and development of Indonesia’s Chinatown. In the context of history, social change, and urban development, its uniqueness draws an illustration of how the communities exist and grow influenced by the cultural heritage and the dynamic complexity of Chinatown life as well. Subsequently, this mixture facts contribute as the forming elements to Indonesian culture.