Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia: Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture (Asian Cultural Studies: Transnational and Dialogic Approaches) - Hardcover

Schmidt, Leonie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783486996 ISBN 13: 9781783486991

Verlag: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

What does it mean to be a modern Muslim today? In contemporary discourse Islam and modernity are often presented as each other's opposites in media and popular culture.

Southeast Asia has a large Muslim population, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, but Islamic culture in these states is conspicuously absent from the wider global discourse on Islam. With a focus on popular culture in Indonesia - a country that houses the world's largest Muslim population and that is also undergoing modernisation -Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia will demonstrate how Islamic modernities are being negotiated and constructed through popular and visual culture from a trans-regional perspective. Looking at a variety of Islamic-themed popular and visual culture including rock music, cinema, art, visual decorations in shopping malls, self-help books, and fashion blogs, the book explores how Islamic modernities are imagined, negotiated, contested, and shared in Southeast Asia.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Leonie Schmidt is Assistant Professor in television studies in the Media Studies Department at the University of Amsterdam and a researcher at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis.

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Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia

Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture

By Leonie Schmidt

Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd.

Copyright © 2017 Leonie Schmidt
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78348-699-1

Contents

Acknowledgements, 
1 Introduction: Islamic-themed Popular and Visual Culture and Images of Modernities, 
2 Urban Islamic Spectacles: Transforming the Space of the Shopping Mall during Ramadan, 
3 Islamic Rock Music and Imaginations of Modernities, 
4 Islamic Self-help Books and Governmentality, 
5 Muslim Masculinity and Femininity in Islamic-themed Films, 
6 Liking, Wearing, and Sharing Islamic Modernities: Indonesian and Malaysian Muslim Fashion Bloggers, 
7 Unearthing the Past and Reimagining the Present: Contemporary Art and Muslim Politics in a Post-9/11 World, 
8 Conclusion: Islamic Modernities and the Politics of Plurality, 
Bibliography, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Islamic-themed Popular and Visual Culture and Images of Modernities

For weeks the affairs and adventures of Bang Jack, Chelsea, Barong, and Juki had me and my Indonesian friend, Fitria, glued to the TV. Bang Jack, Chelsea, Barong, and Juki are four characters of the Ramadan sinetron (religious soap series) Para Pencari Tuhan. Watching those one-and-a-half hour episodes of Para Pencari Tuhan in that small living room, in a kampung-house on the outskirts of Yogyakarta, became a daily routine for me, Fitria, her family, and several of the neighbours. Broadcast on the privately owned SCTV channel, right before iftar (the breaking of the fast), every cliffhanger of Para Pencari Tuhan was followed by a festive home-cooked dinner.

The neighbours and family members would often discuss what happened on Para Pencari Tuhan while enjoying their meals. The series' characters dealt with alcoholism, bankruptcy, prison life, betrayal, love affairs, political intrigue, evil mothers-in-law, going from rags to riches and the other way around, stardom, terrorism, and suitcases with millions of rupiahs popping up in the street without any owner to claim them. While many of these problems are faced by soap series characters all over the world, others are particular to present-day Indonesia.

Set in a village in West Java, Indonesia, Para Pencari Tuhan follows the lives of a group of villagers. In the first episode we meet three former inmates, Chelsea (Melky Bajaj), Barong (Aden Bajaj), and Juki (Isa Bajaj). The three men are released from prison and wander along the roads of Jakarta feeling lonely and lost. Juki, a former pickpocket, is rejected by his mother on his return to home, while Chelsea tries to reconcile with his ex-wife, but finds out that she is now married to the police officer who had put Chelsea in prison. Chelsea, Barong, and Juki feel as if they are shut out from the world, a feeling that is underscored by the setting: all buildings in the city they try to enter are closed because it is Ramadan. Having nowhere to go, the men strand in a mosque in a nearby village and are taken under the care of the mosque keeper, Bang Jack (Deddy Mizwar). While Bang Jack tries to lead the former inmates to the right path, we also meet the other villagers. We meet Aya (Zaskia Adya Mecca) and Azzam (Agus Kuncoro). Aya is a Muslim girl, who has excellent knowledge of religious matters and always helps out Bang Jack. Azzam is hopelessly in love with Aya, but is rejected by her. Then there are Aya's brother Ustad Ferry (Akri Patrio), the chairman of the mosque, and his wife Haifa (Anisa Wulandari). We also follow Jalal (Jarwo Strong), the richest man in the village, and his two loyal security guards Udin (Udin Nganga) and Asrul (Asrul Dahlan).

Over the course of the series, the village community not only has to deal with universal soap problems, but is also repeatedly confronted with issues that relate to the changes that Indonesia is undergoing as ongoing processes of modernization transform the archipelago. For instance, in one episode, the village elders are shocked by a sudden drop in rice production. Worried about the future of the village, they set up an investigation. As it turns out, the farmers working on the rice fields have acquired smartphones and are now avid users of social media. As a result, they are constantly updating their Facebook status when they should be working in the fields. They have become, in the words of one of the village elders, 'unproductive citizens' due to their use of modern technology.

In another episode of Para Pencari Tuhan, security guard Asrul and his wife enjoy the success of their soup stall. For a long time they were the poorest couple in the village, but after their success they could move into a decent house while winning respect from the other villagers. Their upward mobility is not without problems. Their wealth is threatened when, in rivalry for money, other villagers make petrol bombs and set Asrul's soup stall on fire. Making matters worse, Asrul's busy schedule puts stress on his family, and he has little time to practice Islam. The situation leaves Asrul unhappy and at a certain point he even begs Allah to restore the life he once had when his family was poor.

Para Pencari Tuhan raises several questions. For instance, what to think of modern technology? What are its advantages and disadvantages? How does technology affect social relations? How to live a 'good' life? What does it mean exactly to belong to the middle class? And conversely, how to deal with poverty? How to keep moving forward when faced with changes and challenges? And what lessons are taught during these experiences?

Central to these questions is the theme of modernity. What is changing, what could change in the future, with what consequences, and how should one think about that? What does it actually mean to be modern in Indonesia today? By making these questions part of its narrative, Para Pencari Tuhan critically explores what kind of modernity is right and suitable for what kind of circumstances. Para Pencari Tuhan is a sinetron Islami (Islamic soap opera), a Muslim-themed soap opera with an emphasis on prayer, moral guidance, and devoutness (Ida 2010, 1). The question is then not just 'what does it mean to be modern?' but also 'what does it mean to be modern as a Muslim?' That is not to ask whether Islam and modernity are compatible. Islam is modern (Hefner 2005, 8), and relegating it to the realm of 'tradition' is to reinforce both a dangerous Orientalist stereotype and the problematic idea that modernity can only be secular. Para Pencari Tuhan instead asks how to participate, as an Indonesian Muslim (like any other citizen elsewhere), in a changing environment. As Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is simultaneously modernizing and Islamizing, this question is important.

The question of what it means to be modern in Indonesia today was also underlying much of our own dinner table discussions about Para Pencari Tuhan. For example, when Fitria and her aunts talked about what they themselves would and should do in a certain situation, or what they thought would (not) be good for the practice of Islam, for the village community, and by extension, for the nation. Considering that Para Pencari Tuhan was watched by more than 32 per cent of the national television audience, and was viewed by men and women of almost all age groups (10–24 years; 25–40 years; 40–49 and 50–75 years [ABG...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Rowman & Littlefield
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1783486996
• ISBN 13: 9781783486991
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 218
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland