CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Wolf, Silvia Ilonka |
|---|---|
| Title | Centering the Islamic periphery through Palestine and America: Symbolic geographies and global social imaginaries in Indonesian charity concerts |
| Summary | It has been widely observed that Islamic revivalism in Indonesia, and in the Malay world in general, has led to the growing ubiquity of Muslim identities in public life. These processes have inspired the rise of various Islamic-themed genres in popular culture and in cultural performances. In this thesis I focus on one such manifestation, i.e. Indonesian charity concerts, as a recent social and cultural phenomenon. To unpack the local aims that the events fulfil I trace the various forces, agents, and interests which have contributed to the emergence of charity concerts as a regular pattern in contemporary Indonesian public life. I also explore Islam-inspired notions in relation to the events, such as jihad, dakwah, and the idea of virtue, and I question how these notions fit into the social imaginaries that are projected in the charity concerts. In combining hermeneutics with ethnographic fieldwork in order to provide a ‘thick description’, I examine how Palestine and America, as two non-Indonesian, symbolic geographies, have become incorporated into local narratives drawing on global social imaginaries that are projected and performed in the concerts. How are these symbolic geographies instrumental in the global social imaginary of the ummah as well as in the imaginary of the Indonesian nation and its role within the wider (Muslim) world? I argue that the religious significance of Jerusalem and its current occupied status have ignited a form of vicarious nationalism among Indonesian Muslims, whereby Palestine is appropriated as a sacred space of belonging that demands Muslims’ allegiance to it as well as to its Palestinian inhabitants, who are regarded as fellow members of the ummah in dire need of rescue. America, on the other hand, represents not only a geographical area where Islamophobia skyrockets but also a modern global power and a gateway for the Muslim world (in particular Indonesia) to establish good ties with the West and contribute to world peace. Analyzed relationally, these events embody a form of globally oriented dakwah which projects an image of Indonesia as a model Muslim nation ready to peacefully ‘conquer’ the world with its emphasis on Islam rahmatan lil alamin, the Islam that brings mercy to all mankind. |
| Supervisor | Monterescu, Daniel |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/wolf_silvia.pdf |
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