Hefner Discusses Conservative Islam in Indonesia at AAS Conference
On March 25, 2022, Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, joined leading scholars of Southeast Asia for a panel on conservative Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia at the Association for Asian Studies’ (AAS) annual conference.
The panel explored priorities, contentions, and evolutions of conservative Islam in both countries and featured Nancy Smith-Hefner, Professor of Anthropology at BU; Ahmad Najib Burhani from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in Indonesia; Michael Peletz, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University; and Lailatul Fitriyah, Assistant Professor of Interreligious Education at the Claremont School of Theology.
In his remarks, Hefner discussed the findings of his paper “Conservative Islam in Indonesia: Aspirations, Evolutions, Paradox.” The piece analyzes the causes and consequences of the “conservative turn” in Indonesian Muslim politics in democratic Indonesia. Hefner pointed out that much that is identified as “conservative” is in fact not conservative of received Muslim lifeways in any literal sense but repressively transformative. He reviewed recent developments in Muslim women’s lives and argued that, notwithstanding certain repressive currents in other spheres, Muslim women continue to achieve impressive gains in employment, education, and new “companionate” models of intimacy. While Muslim society in Indonesia is not liberal, Hefner argues that it continues to defy naysayers and show an often surprising cultural dynamism.
For more from the AAS annual meeting, visit the conference’s website.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is the former president of the Association for Asian Studies. At CURA, he directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991; coordinated interdisciplinary research and public policy programs on religion, pluralism, and world affairs; and is currently involved in two research projects: “The New Western Plurality and Civic Coexistence: Muslims, Catholics, and Secularists in North America and Western Europe”; and “Sharia Transitions: Islamic Law and Ethical Plurality in the Contemporary World.” Read more about Professor Hefner on his faculty profile.