Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia

Emerging from a 2005 conference at the University of Passau (Germany), Susanne Schroter’s edited volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, from anthropologists and historians to literary scholars and Muslim female activists, to examine this complex subject. The book is organize...

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Autor principal: Megan Brankley Abbas
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2014
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/0d06467f54654483b261d5d9049e9291
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:0d06467f54654483b261d5d9049e92912021-12-02T17:49:33ZGender and Islam in Southeast Asia10.35632/ajis.v31i2.10402690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/0d06467f54654483b261d5d9049e92912014-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/1040https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 Emerging from a 2005 conference at the University of Passau (Germany), Susanne Schroter’s edited volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, from anthropologists and historians to literary scholars and Muslim female activists, to examine this complex subject. The book is organized into four country-specific sections on Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, respectively. The fifth and final section, consisting of only one chapter, adds a transnational dimension by analyzing the Tablighi Jama‘at. Despite the volume’s breadth of disciplinary and geographic contributions, its authors share a common project: the recuperation of Muslim women’s history, and especially female Muslim agency, amidst the rise of Islamization in Southeast Asia. In her introductory essay, Schroter works to unite the country-specific contributions under a broader regional framework. She argues that whereas Islam in Southeast Asia has traditionally been “moderate, especially with regard to its gender orders” (p. 7), the recent “upsurge of neo-orthodox Islam poses a threat” (p. 37) to women’s rights. With characterizations of conservative Muslims as “religious zealots” (p. 16) and “hardliners” (p. 19), she presents Islamization as a process in which “orthodox” Muslims, often with international ties, have imperiled the moderate Islam of traditional Southeast Asia and the liberal Islam of Muslim reformers. The majority of the volume’s contributors embrace this framing narrative. On the one hand, this global story enables them to shine new light on the region’s pressing debates over Islam and gender. Yet, on the other hand, the framework consistently places female agency in absolute distinction with so-called orthodox Islam, thereby eclipsing a more complicated landscape of ethical contestation and cultural difference. Building on Schroter’s framework, the book’s opening section on Indonesia features four chapters, each of which emphasizes challenges Muslim women face in asserting their rights an identities in various Indonesian Islamic spheres. To begin, Nelly van Doorn-Harder investigates the Harmonious Family Program of ‘Aisyiyah, Muhammadiyah’s sister organization, as “a tool to transmit the reformist views on gender and women’s position within marriage” ... Megan Brankley AbbasInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 31, Iss 2 (2014)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Megan Brankley Abbas
Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia
description Emerging from a 2005 conference at the University of Passau (Germany), Susanne Schroter’s edited volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, from anthropologists and historians to literary scholars and Muslim female activists, to examine this complex subject. The book is organized into four country-specific sections on Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, respectively. The fifth and final section, consisting of only one chapter, adds a transnational dimension by analyzing the Tablighi Jama‘at. Despite the volume’s breadth of disciplinary and geographic contributions, its authors share a common project: the recuperation of Muslim women’s history, and especially female Muslim agency, amidst the rise of Islamization in Southeast Asia. In her introductory essay, Schroter works to unite the country-specific contributions under a broader regional framework. She argues that whereas Islam in Southeast Asia has traditionally been “moderate, especially with regard to its gender orders” (p. 7), the recent “upsurge of neo-orthodox Islam poses a threat” (p. 37) to women’s rights. With characterizations of conservative Muslims as “religious zealots” (p. 16) and “hardliners” (p. 19), she presents Islamization as a process in which “orthodox” Muslims, often with international ties, have imperiled the moderate Islam of traditional Southeast Asia and the liberal Islam of Muslim reformers. The majority of the volume’s contributors embrace this framing narrative. On the one hand, this global story enables them to shine new light on the region’s pressing debates over Islam and gender. Yet, on the other hand, the framework consistently places female agency in absolute distinction with so-called orthodox Islam, thereby eclipsing a more complicated landscape of ethical contestation and cultural difference. Building on Schroter’s framework, the book’s opening section on Indonesia features four chapters, each of which emphasizes challenges Muslim women face in asserting their rights an identities in various Indonesian Islamic spheres. To begin, Nelly van Doorn-Harder investigates the Harmonious Family Program of ‘Aisyiyah, Muhammadiyah’s sister organization, as “a tool to transmit the reformist views on gender and women’s position within marriage” ...
format article
author Megan Brankley Abbas
author_facet Megan Brankley Abbas
author_sort Megan Brankley Abbas
title Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia
title_short Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia
title_full Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia
title_fullStr Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia
title_sort gender and islam in southeast asia
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2014
url https://doaj.org/article/0d06467f54654483b261d5d9049e9291
work_keys_str_mv AT meganbrankleyabbas genderandislaminsoutheastasia
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