Few countries as culturally rich, politically pivotal, and naturally beautiful as Indonesia are as often misrepresented in global media and conversation. Stretching 3,400 miles east to west along the equator, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and home to more than four hundred ethnic groups and several major world religions. This sprawling Southeast Asian nation is also the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country and the third largest democracy. Although in recent years the country has experienced serious challenges with regard to religious harmony, its trillion-dollar economy is booming and its press and public sphere are among the most vibrant in Asia. A land of cultural contrasts, contests, and contradictions, this ever-evolving country is today rising to even greater global prominence, even as it redefines the terms of its national, religious, and civic identity.
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Indonesia offers an overview of the modern making and contemporary dynamics of culture, society, and politics in this powerful Asian nation. It provides a comprehensive survey of key issues in Indonesian politics, economics, religion, and society. It is divided into six sections, organized as follows:
- Cultural Legacies and Political Junctures
- Contemporary Politics and Plurality
- Markets and Economic Cultures
- Muslims and Religious Plurality
- Gender and Sexuality
- Indonesia in an Age of Multiple Globalizations
Bringing together original contributions by leading scholars of Indonesia in law, political science, history, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, and gender studies this Handbook provides an up-to-date, interdisciplinary, and academically rigorous exploration of Indonesia. It will be of interest to students, academics, policymakers, and others in search of reliable information on Indonesian politics, economics, religion, and society in an accessible format.
Part I: Legacies and Junctures 1. Introduction. Indonesia at the Crossroads: Imbroglios of Religion, State, and Society in an Asian Muslim Nation, Robert W. Hefner 2. Gender Legacies and Modern Transitions, Barbara Watson Andaya 3. Ethnic Groups and the Indonesian Nation-State: With special reference to ethnic Chinese Ethnic Diversity and Legacies, Leo Suryadinata 4. Constitutions and Constitutionalism, Simon Butt 5. The Making of a National Educational System, Christopher Bjork and Raihani Part II: Democratic Politics and Plurality 6. Problems of Democratization: An Overview, Edward Aspinall 7. Parties and Party Politics in the Post-Reformasi Era, Dirk Tomsa 8. The Ephemeral Nature of Local Political Monopolies, Michael Buehler 9. Ethnic, Religious, and Regional Conflict, Chris Wilson 10. Historical Justice and the Case of the 1965 Killings, Katharine McGregor 11. The Indonesian Armed Forces, Coalitional Presidentialism and Democratization: From Praetorian Guard to Imagined Balance of Power, Marcus Mietzner 12. Everyday Citizenship in Democratizing Indonesia, Gerry van Klinken and Ward Berenschot Part II: Markets and Economic Cultures 13. New Muslim Cultures of Capitalist Enterprise, Gwenaël Njoto-Feillard 14. Chinese Indonesians: Businesses, Ethnicity, and Religion, Juliette Koning 15. Consumption and the New Middle Classes, Carla Jones 16. Reinventing "Wonderful Indonesia": Tourism, Economy, and Society, Kathleen M. Adams Part IV: Muslims and Religious Plurality 17. The Religious Field: Plural Legacies and Contemporary Contestations, Robert W. Hefner 18. Islamization, Law, and the Indonesian Courts: The More Things Change....., Tim Lindsey 19. The Special Status of Islamic Aceh, Arskal Salim 20. Salafism in Indonesia: Transnational Islam, Violent Activism, and Cultural Resistance, Noorhaidi Hasan 21. Christians in Indonesia, Jan S. Aritonang 22. Hinduism and Buddhism in an Islamizing Indonesia, Martin Ramstedt 23. The Politics and Law of Religious Governance, Zainal Abidin Bagir 24. Islamic Populism in Indonesia: Emergence and Limitations, Vedi R. Hadiz Part V: Gender and Sexuality 25. Gender culture and politics in post New Order Indonesia, Kathryn Robinson 26. Gender and Sexual Plurality in Indonesia: Past and Present, Sharyn Graham Davies 27. Courtship and Marriage in Indonesia’s New Muslim Middle Class, Nancy J. Smith-Hefner 28. Women’s Responses to the Implementation of Islamic Law in Aceh, Dina Afrianty Part VI: Indonesia in a Age of Multiple Globalizations 29. Popular Culture and Identity Politics, Ariel Heryanto 30. Nation, Islam, and Gender in Dangdut, Indonesia’s Most Popular Music, Andrew N. Weintraub 31. Language Diversity and Language Change, Zane Goebel 32. A "Tolerant" Indonesia? Indonesian Muslims in Comparative Perspective, Jeremy Menchik and Katrina Trost 33. Public Diplomacy and the Global Dissemination of "Moderate Islam," James Bourk Hoesterey
Biography
Robert W. Hefner is professor of anthropology and global affairs at the Pardee School of Global Affairs at Boston University. He is also a senior research associate and the former director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. He has conducted research on politics, ethics, and culture in the Muslim world since the early 1980s. He is the author or editor of some twenty books, including Shari’a Law and Modern Muslim Ethics (2016), and is currently completing a book on Islam and citizenship in democratic Indonesia.
