Julian Millie
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501713118
- eISBN:
- 9781501709609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501713118.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
West Java is a diverse Islamic society in which different segments attach contrasting meanings to Islamic communications. Many Muslims are accustomed to listening to preachers when carrying out their ...
More
West Java is a diverse Islamic society in which different segments attach contrasting meanings to Islamic communications. Many Muslims are accustomed to listening to preachers when carrying out their routines of piety and celebration. These preachers shape their messages to everyday realities. Other segments problematize routine preaching, arguing that preaching should enable Muslims to transcend their everyday realities. The chapter introduces West Java and its capital city, Bandung, and conveys the multi-faceted Islamic heritage of the region, providing background to the critiques of preaching produced by Muslim elites of the region.Less
West Java is a diverse Islamic society in which different segments attach contrasting meanings to Islamic communications. Many Muslims are accustomed to listening to preachers when carrying out their routines of piety and celebration. These preachers shape their messages to everyday realities. Other segments problematize routine preaching, arguing that preaching should enable Muslims to transcend their everyday realities. The chapter introduces West Java and its capital city, Bandung, and conveys the multi-faceted Islamic heritage of the region, providing background to the critiques of preaching produced by Muslim elites of the region.
Julian Millie
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501713118
- eISBN:
- 9781501709609
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501713118.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
For many Muslims throughout the world, oral preaching provides the most accessible and enjoyable medium for learning about Islam and its meanings for everyday life. This is true in Indonesia’s West ...
More
For many Muslims throughout the world, oral preaching provides the most accessible and enjoyable medium for learning about Islam and its meanings for everyday life. This is true in Indonesia’s West Java province, where almost 98% of the population of around forty-three million practices Islam. Despite its popularity, Indonesia’s Islamic elites are concerned about the value of preaching. They see that Islam provides directives and motivations towards progress in areas of social and political concern, but argue that this progress will not be achieved if Muslims are satisfied with the pleasing artifice of clever preachers. Millie spent fourteen months in the company of some of West Java’s most successful Islamic preachers, but also spent time with critics of listening. He described and explores a dichotomy between Islamic speech which succeeds because it is shaped to suit listeners’ social realities, and discourses about Muslim subjectivity that connect media consumption with aspirations for social and political progress, and which portray listening as anachronistic and inefficacious. This detailed analysis sheds light on a question that is increasingly important in efforts to understand contemporary Muslim societies: What is the place of pious listening in the complex societies of today?Less
For many Muslims throughout the world, oral preaching provides the most accessible and enjoyable medium for learning about Islam and its meanings for everyday life. This is true in Indonesia’s West Java province, where almost 98% of the population of around forty-three million practices Islam. Despite its popularity, Indonesia’s Islamic elites are concerned about the value of preaching. They see that Islam provides directives and motivations towards progress in areas of social and political concern, but argue that this progress will not be achieved if Muslims are satisfied with the pleasing artifice of clever preachers. Millie spent fourteen months in the company of some of West Java’s most successful Islamic preachers, but also spent time with critics of listening. He described and explores a dichotomy between Islamic speech which succeeds because it is shaped to suit listeners’ social realities, and discourses about Muslim subjectivity that connect media consumption with aspirations for social and political progress, and which portray listening as anachronistic and inefficacious. This detailed analysis sheds light on a question that is increasingly important in efforts to understand contemporary Muslim societies: What is the place of pious listening in the complex societies of today?
Julian Millie
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501713118
- eISBN:
- 9781501709609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501713118.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
The second part of the book commences with Chapter Six. It analyses the connections Indonesian Muslims make between preaching styles and subjectivities, and the norms of citizen subjectivity that ...
More
The second part of the book commences with Chapter Six. It analyses the connections Indonesian Muslims make between preaching styles and subjectivities, and the norms of citizen subjectivity that shape these connections. Chapter Six explores a progressive critique of preaching routines, describing a competition in which contestants write about the Qur’an. This was specifically conceived by a Bandung activist concerned about the negative effects of listening on Indonesia’s democratic future. Rationales for the project reveal authoritative conceptions of how Islam should properly be mediated.Less
The second part of the book commences with Chapter Six. It analyses the connections Indonesian Muslims make between preaching styles and subjectivities, and the norms of citizen subjectivity that shape these connections. Chapter Six explores a progressive critique of preaching routines, describing a competition in which contestants write about the Qur’an. This was specifically conceived by a Bandung activist concerned about the negative effects of listening on Indonesia’s democratic future. Rationales for the project reveal authoritative conceptions of how Islam should properly be mediated.
