Contending Modernities

Shari`a, Citizenship, and identity in Aceh presents both an ethnographic and a sociohistorical account of identity making among both the Muslim majority population and different minority groups in Aceh, Indonesia. Diverging from previous studies on majority-minority group relations in a predominantly Muslim country that tend to engage solely with one group's experiences, Shari`a, Citizenship, and Identity in Aceh argues that the majority and minority groups in Aceh, Indonesia, have interactively and mutually created conceptions of identity and recognition that have significant implications on the experience of citizenship in the region. The authors provide not only a narrative of majority-minority group encounters in a variety of issues, but also a wide-ranging account of struggles from both the Muslim majority and non-Muslim minority groups for recognition of their own identity in the public space. To what extent do minority groups feel that they belong to Aceh's communal identity, which is mostly Islamic? And what kind of citizenship is in place when minorities feel marginalized living under Aceh's Islamic rules? Shari`a, Citizenship, and Identity in Aceh debunks the concept of citizenship by way of deploying the concept of the politics of recognition against the politics of the dominant culture theory. It looks further at how equal citizenship in a democratic political system has been negotiated and compromised, and how the politics of dominant culture has caused a sense of shared ownership to be largely deficient and vague in Aceh.

The crisis of multiculturalism in the West and the failure of the Arab uprisings in the Middle East have pushed the question of how to live peacefully within a diverse society to the forefront of global discussion. Against this backdrop, Indonesia has taken on a particular importance: with a population of 265 million people (87.7 percent of whom are Muslim), Indonesia is both the largest Muslim-majority country in the world and the third largest democracy. In light of its return to electoral democracy from the authoritarianism of the former New Order regime, some analysts have argued that Indonesia offers clear proof of the compatibility of Islam and democracy. Skeptics argue, however, that the growing religious intolerance that has marred the country's political transition discredits any claim of the country to democratic exemplarity. Based on a twenty-month project carried out in several regions of Indonesia, Indonesian Pluralities: Islam, Citizenship, and Democracy shows that, in assessing the quality and dynamics of democracy and citizenship in Indonesia today, we must examine not only elections and official politics, but also the less formal, yet more pervasive, processes of social recognition at work in this deeply plural society. The contributors demonstrate that, in fact, citizen ethics are not static discourses but living traditions that co-evolve in relation to broader patterns of politics, gender, religious resurgence, and ethnicity in society. Indonesian Pluralities offers important insights on the state of Indonesian politics and society more than twenty years after its return to democracy. It will appeal to political scholars, public analysts, and those interested in Islam, Southeast Asia, citizenship, and peace and conflict studies around the world. Contributors: Robert W. Hefner, Erica M. Larson, Kelli Swazey, Mohammad Iqbal Ahnaf, Marthen Tahun, Alimatul Qibtiyah, and Zainal Abidin Bagir

The contributors to this original volume provide a new and nuanced approach to studying how discourses of religion shape public domains in sites of political contestation and "broken solidarities." Our public discourse is saturated with intractable debates about religion, race, gender, and nationalism. Examples range from Muslim women and headscarves to Palestine/Israel and to global anti-Black racism, along with other pertinent issues. We need fresh thinking to navigate the questions that these debates raise for social justice and solidarity across lines of difference. In Religion and Broken Solidarities, the contributors provide powerful reflections and wisdom to guide how we can approach these questions with deep ethical commitments, intersectional sensibilities, and intellectual rigor. “Religion and Broken Solidarities” traces the role of religious discourse in unrealized moments of solidarity between marginalized groups who ostensibly share similar aims. Religion, the contributors contend, cannot be separated from national, racial, gendered, and other ways of belonging. These modes of belonging make it difficult for different minoritized groups to see how their struggles might benefit from engagement with one another. The four chapters, which interpret historical and contemporary events with a sharp and critical lens, examine accusations of antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism in the Women's March in Washington, DC; the failure of feminists in Iran and Turkey to realize a common cause because of nationalist discourse concerning religiosity and secularity; Black Catholics seeking to overcome the problems of modernity in the West; and the disjunction between the Palestinian and Mizrahi cause in Palestine/Israel. Together these analyses show that overcoming constraints to solidarity requires alternative imaginaries to that of the modern nation-state.

In this timely book, an interdisciplinary group of scholars investigates the recent resurfacing of White Christian nationalism and racism in populist movements across the globe. Religion, Populism, and Modernity examines the recent rise of White Christ

This anthropological study offers a crucial contribution to scholarly debates about the making of African modernity by considering the implementation and reception of gender reform in the West African context. Historically, attempts at implementing gender reform in West Africa have been met with suspicion. Beyond the perception that such reforms subvert traditional structures of authority and community, many worry that these efforts are inextricably connected to Western imperialism and colonialism. Ludovic Lado's “The Politics of Gender Reform in West Africa” examines the politics of a legislative process entirely driven by the state and meant to narrow the gender gap in Ivorian society. Lado discusses the legislative processes by which states have sought to reduce the gender gap between men and women, probes the potential impact of this reform on the condition of women by exploring the practice of civil marriage in Abidjan, and assesses the reception of the reform among Catholics and Muslims in Cte d'Ivoire. Throughout this readable and engaging study, Lado examines how the relationship between secular powers and religious authorities has determined the direction gender reforms have taken. Although the predominant focus in this text remains on gender reforms in Cte d'Ivoire, Lado also discusses their correlates in Niger, Senegal, and Mali. He shows that the success or failure of gender reforms in West Africa has relied on the interaction of various power relationships that structure the international, national, local, religious, and domestic arenas within which West Africans go about their lives. The book concludes with an informed reflection on the relationship among religions, the state, and gender reforms that highlights some of the issues at stake in the domestication of hegemonic modernity in Africa.

In this first volume in the Contending Modernities series, Inclusive Populism: Creating Citizens in the Global Age, Angus Ritchie claims that our current political upheavals, exemplified by the far-right populism of billionaire Donald Trump, reveal fundamental flaws in secular liberalism. Ritchie maintains that both liberalism and this "fake populism" resign citizens to an essentially passive role in public life. Ritchie argues instead for an "inclusive populism," in which religious and nonreligious identities and institutions are fully represented in the public square, engaging the diverse communities brought together by global migration to build and lead a common life. Drawing on twenty years of experience in action and reflection in East London, Ritchie posits that the practice of community organizing exemplifies a truly inclusive populism, and that it is also reflected in the teaching of Pope Francis. Speaking to our political crisis and mapping out a way forward, Inclusive Populism will appeal to thoughtful readers and active citizens interested in politics, community organizing, and religion.

“Who Are My People?” explores the complex relationship between identity, violence, and Christianity in Africa. In “Who Are My People?”, Emmanuel Katongole examines what it means to be both an African and a Christian in a continent that is often riddled with violence. The driving assumption behind the investigation is that the recurring forms of violence in Africa reflect an ongoing crisis of belonging. Katongole traces the crisis through three key markers of identity: ethnicity, religion, and land. He highlights the unique modernity of the crisis of belonging and reveals that its manifestations of ethnic, religious, and ecological violence are not three separate forms of violence but rather modalities of the same crisis. This investigation shows that Christianity can generate and nurture alternative forms of community, nonviolent agency, and ecological possibilities. The book is divided into two parts. Part One deals with the philosophical and theological issues related to the question of African identity. Part Two includes three chapters, each of which engages a form of violence, locating it within the broader story of modern sub-Saharan Africa. Each chapter includes stories of Christian individuals and communities who not only resist violence but are determined to heal its wounds and the burden of history shaped by Africa's unique modernity. In doing so, they invent new forms of identity, new communities, and a new relationship with the land. This engaging, interdisciplinary study, combining philosophical analysis and theological exploration, along with theoretical argument and practical resources, will interest scholars and students of theology, peace studies, and African studies.

Ebenezer Obadare examines the overriding impact of Nigerian Pentecostal pastors on their churches, and how they have shaped the dynamics of state-society relations during the Fourth Republic. Pentecostal pastors enjoy an unprecedented authority in contemporary Nigerian society, exerting significant influence on politics, public policy, popular culture, and the moral imagination. In Pastoral Power, Clerical State, Ebenezer Obadare investigates the social origins of clerical authority in modern-day Nigeria with an eye to parallel developments and patterns within the broader African society. Obadare focuses on the figure of the pastor as a bearer of political power, thaumaturgical expertise, and sexual attractiveness who wields significant influence on his church members. This study makes an important contribution to the literature on global Pentecostalism. Obadare situates the figure of the pastor within the wider context of national politics and culture and as a beneficiary of the dislocations of the postcolonial society in Africa's most populous country. Obadare calls our attention to the creative ways in which Nigeria's Pentecostal pastors utilize religious doctrines, beckon spiritual forces, and manipulate their alliances with national powerbrokers to consolidate their influence and authority. In contrast to rapidly eroding pastoral authority in the West, pastoral authority is increasing in Nigeria. This engaging book will appeal to those who want to understand the far-reaching political and social implications of religious movements-especially Christian charismatic and evangelical movements-in contemporary African societies. It will be of interest to scholars and students of sociology, religion, political science, and African studies.

Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism examines the tenacious, lingering impact of European colonial ideology on religion and politics around the world. Even though the formal structures of colonialism have crumbled, with a few notable exceptions, European colonial ideology continues to operate across the globe, resulting in limited, nationalistic conceptualizations of religion and politics. Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism shows convincingly that not only has colonialism had a devastating impact on the colonized, but its reach has turned inward to erode the colonizer's own social and political systems. By examining the colonial violence constitutive of liberal political ideology, the continued oppression of Muslims in Europe in the name of security, and the way neoliberal economics bends religious hermeneutics to its will, the authors of Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism call attention to the threats that face our world today. They also point to potential sites of hope-for example, the work of a priest in the Balkans who seeks to build solidarity across religious differences; groups in Africa who are constructing decolonial religious imaginaries; and the Islamo-futurism of Dune, which haltingly imagines a form of modernity beyond the West. Contributors: Atalia Omer, Joshua Lupo, Santiago Slabodsky, Nadia Fadil, S. Sayyid, Luca Mavelli, Edmund Frettingham, Cecelia Lynch, Slavica Jakelić, and Gil Anidjar

Youth, Education, and Islamic Radicalism offers groundbreaking analysis of religious intolerance and radicalization among high school and university students in modern-day Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the most diverse countries in the world in terms of religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, but also in the complexity of its education system. Youth, Education, and Islamic Radicalism examines the roots of religious intolerance among young Indonesians and explores the various ways in which educated youth navigate radical ideologies amid growing religious conservatism. The book presents nuanced explanations as to why one person becomes radicalized while another does not, calling into question the common assumption that religious radicalism is directly connected to terrorism. It problematizes the notion that the university is a significant hub, trigger, or birthplace of radicalization by asking: What makes education attractive for extremist recruitment? What shapes students' views? Under what circumstances do radicalization and deradicalization processes of educated youth take place? Youth, Education, and Islamic Radicalism identifies a constellation of factors that shape young people's views of religious diversity in Indonesia, demonstrating the ways in which they become radicalized in the first place, and how, in some cases, they deradicalize themselves.