From Consumption to Production

The Extroversion of Indonesian Islamic Education

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13014658
AutoresDelphine Alles (0000-0001-5569-4546, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales), Amanda tho Seeth (0000-0003-1851-7107, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen9
Número2
Páginas145-161
Fecha de publicación2021-05-21
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTRaNS Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2051-364X • E-ISSN: 2051-3658
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/trn.2021.6
OpenAlexW3164649835
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas27

Conventionally perceived as a geographical and civilisational periphery of the Muslim world, Indonesia has recently pursued an Islam-based diplomatic narrative that aims to promote itself as a model democratic Muslim-majority country, upholding religious pluralism and tolerance. This paper analyses the educational dimension of this Islamic soft power policy, which has been overlooked by the academic literature. It argues that the extroversion of Indonesian Islamic education—defined as the switch from an inward-looking perspective to a strategy of exporting this sector beyond Indonesia's borders, while upholding the narrative of its national distinctiveness—aims at fostering the authoritativeness of Indonesian Islam, enhancing the nation's standing within the Muslim world and, more broadly, bolstering the image of Indonesian Islam as inherently moderate and pluralist, which serves both domestic and foreign policy purposes. At the same time, extroversion seeks to legitimise local Islamic practices that have become increasingly challenged by external and, in particular, Wahhabi influences. By mapping out historical trajectories and current developments of the Indonesian Islamic educational sphere, we argue that future research on Indonesia's position within and relationship to the Muslim world—and particularly the country's Islamic soft power strategy—must consider Islamic educational institutes and their intellectual milieux as distinct actors in global religious and political competition

Epistemology · Geography · Indonesian · Islam · Narrative · Pluralism (philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Soft power · Asian Studies and History · Education and Islamic Studies · Islamic Studies and Radicalism · Law