INDONESIA UPDATE 2007

The 25th annual Indonesia Update conference

ISLAMIC LIFE AND POLITICS

Some 190 million Indonesians profess Islam as their faith. But what precisely is the role of Islam in their private and public lives? How is this changing in contemporary Indonesia?

Considerable research has been done on specific aspects of Indonesian Islam, such as politics, liberal thought and violent radicalism, but a great many other aspects are little studied and poorly understood outside Indonesia's Islamic community. For example, growing numbers of Muslims, particularly in urban areas, are seeking more overtly Islamic expressions of their identity. This is evident in the rising popularity of shari'a banking and insurance, Islamic spiritual healing and traditional treatments such as cupping and herbal remedies, Muslim fashions, Islamic multi-level marketing, corporate mystical brotherhoods and new electronic preaching media such as video-stream sermons to mobile phones, cyber chat rooms and satellite television programs.

This conference will examine the multi-dimensional nature of contemporary Indonesian Islam. It will take a critical look at developments in politics and radicalism, as well as the increasing Islamisation of the economy, marketing and health and education services. The aim is to capture the complexity and rapidly changing nature of Islamic religiosity.

Conference convenors