Images of Authentic Muslim Selves

Gendered Moralities and Constructions of Arab Others in Contemporary Indonesia

Bibliographic Data

ID5936588
AuthorsMirjam Lücking (0000-0002-2933-6056, University of Freiburg, corresponding author), Evi Eliyanah (0000-0002-6413-8792, Australian National University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume6
Issue3
Pages103
Publication date2017-09-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2076-0760 • E-ISSN: 2076-0760
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/socsci6030103
OpenAlexW2751330457
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited22

In contemporary Indonesia, Muslims increasingly define themselves by othering fellow Muslims, including Arab Muslims. This article examines how Indonesian Muslims, who have traveled to and/or resided in the Middle East, construct their social identities in relation to Arab others. Ethnographic research with labor migrants and pilgrims, and a cultural analysis of cinematic representations of Indonesian students in Cairo, show that conceptions of gendered moralities feature strongly in the ways in which these particular Indonesian Muslims define their authentic Muslim selves, as distinct from Arab others. They attribute ideal male and female characteristic features to Asian Islamic identities, while they portray objectionable ones as Arab culture. This implies that self-representations play a crucial role in the ways in which Indonesian Muslims relate to a region, culture and people long viewed as the "center" of Islamic culture. The representations of Arab others and Indonesian selves eventually lead to contestations of religious authenticity and social class

Construct (python library · Ethnography · Indonesian · Islam · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Studies and History · Gender and Women's Rights · Gender Studies · History · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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