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This paper examines how the eco-theology of St Francis of Assisi is translated into practice in Franciscan schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. We also investigate if the environmental conclusions of the...

This special issue grew out of collaborative research that aimed to identify how education could contribute to creating environmentally aware citizens in Indonesia. The main problems animating the ...

Very little is known about environmental awareness in Indonesia. This article helps to address that ignorance with data from a survey of 1,000 senior high school students in Yogyakarta and Surabaya...

This article explores a unique form of environmental education (EE) being implemented in schools in Surabaya, Indonesia. An environmental NGO (TENGO) and the national in-school programme, Adiwiyata...

This paper examines the sexual agency exercised by married Muslim women in Bandung, Indonesia, in their marital relationships. Dominant discourses teach that women should obey their husbands, and most women believe that they should serve their husbands sexually whenever required. Sex is a taboo subject and women should not discuss sex or initiate sex. Their sexual desire is not acknowledged. However, in-depth interviews with 42 married women, and some husbands, found that a few exceptional women managed to challenge or negotiate around these dominant discourses. The paper examines their exercise of agency with regard to the initiation of sex, positions and practices that they prefer, their ability to say no to sex, ways to avoid having sex and their demand for mutual pleasure in sex.

This article examines the experience of Muslim female students in high schools in Bali. Since the religion of the majority of the population of Bali is Balinese Hinduism, these young women are part of a Muslim minority – unusual in Indonesia. Data were obtained through interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2010. Interviewees were mainly Muslim students, but teachers and Muslim parents were also consulted. Some of the students are a minority within a state senior high school, and some attend a private Islamic school in Denpasar. Interviewees identified choice of school and the wearing of the jilbab (Islamic head-scarf) as issues for them in their everyday lives. The Islamic school is (mis-)perceived as a morally safe environment by parents. The state school does not allow the wearing of the jilbab, showing the limits of multiculturalism in Bali. While the jilbab should express piety and morality, there is some hypocrisy among some young jilbab-wearing women. Some young women have inter...

This special issue is devoted to the study of janda (widows and divorcees) in Indonesia and the stigma that they experience. The single word janda refers to both widows and divorcees in Indonesian,...

This article theorises and contextualises the stigmatisation of janda (widows and divorcees) in Indonesia. It firstly reviews the social science literature on stigma in society, showing a shift towards the study of stigmatisation as an exercise of power by a dominant group in society. It argues that the content of that stigmatisation works best when it is culturally relevant, useful to the dominant and hurtful to the stigmatised minority. Secondly, it surveys the social and cultural context in which widows and particularly divorcees are stigmatised in Indonesia. It argues that the apparent acceptability of divorce in the 1950s and 1960s shifted through the period of the New Order (1966–98), and divorce became much less common and more stigmatised. An education revolution contributed to more elaborate courtship patterns, later age of marriage and a trend to marriage by choice rather than parental arrangement; the patriarchal gender system and nuclear family ideology of the New Order state, and its ...

This article explores the discourses and practices of stigmatisation that shape the experience of widows and divorced women (janda) in Indonesia. The conceptualisation of stigma allows us to see that the experience of being a janda is a gendered, moral experience. The article examines the construction of ideal marriage in Islam and in Indonesia, divorce, and the construction of gender and sexuality. There is a dominant discourse that divorced and widowed women are sexually available and promiscuous; the result is often that men prey upon janda. In turn, wives feel threatened by the competition that janda represent. This article is based on ethnographic and interview data from two field sites: Bandung, West Java, and Wawonii island, off the coast of Southeast Sulawesi; both are Muslim communities. It also explores the possibilities for women's agency and destigmatisation, through the mobilising of social networks and the emphasising of their worth as good mothers to achieve social respectability.

This chapter examines the new (2013) curriculum for senior high schools in Indonesia, with a view to eliciting the main objectives of the curriculum around multiculturalism. After a brief survey of literature on education for tolerance, with particular attention to religious tolerance, the chapter introduces the concept of a whole school approach to teaching tolerance. The socio-historical context in which the new curriculum was introduced is described, contrasting the democratic values of the contemporary era with the authoritarianism of Suharto’s New Order (1966–1998), but noting recent violence against religious minorities. The chapter introduces the education system and the justification for the second new curriculum since 1998. It then focuses on the curricula for two subjects: Character and Religious Education, and Citizenship and Pancasila Education. It finds that the two subjects are not consistently in accord with each other or with the overall objectives of education in Indonesia. While Citizenship Education strongly promotes tolerance, in accord with the overall objectives of education in Indonesia, Religion is taught within a confessional mode, aiming to enhance piety and faith rather than interreligious tolerance. The result is that there is an awkward disparity between the two subjects. The essay proposes that the curricula for these two subjects must be consistent in contributing to a whole-school approach to teaching tolerance in schools.

This paper argues that recent inter-religious conflict in Indonesia highlights a need for the education system to address problems of religious intolerance through religious education and the relig...

This paper presents the attitudes of high school students in Indonesia towards inter-ethnic and inter-religious socializing, courtship and marriage. It also explores how different personal characte...

Part I: Everyday Agency of Women in Asia 1. Introduction: The Everyday Agency of Women in Asia Lyn Parker and Laura Dales 2. "Northern Girls": Cultural Politics of Agency and South China's Migrant Literature Wanning Sun 3. Left-behind and Vulnerable? Conceptualising Development and Older Women's Agency in Rural China Tamara Jacka 4. Problematic Conjugations: Women's Agency, Marriage and Domestic Violence in Indonesia Siti Aisyah and Lyn Parker 5. Ohitorisama, Singlehood and Agency in Japan Laura Dales Part II: Masculinities in Asia 6. Masculinities in Asia: A Review Essay Chie Ikeya 7. A Collision of Masculinities: Men, Modernity and Urban Transportation in American-Colonial Manila Michael D. Pante 8. Obscenity, Moral Contagion and Masculinity: Hijras in Public Space in Colonial North India Jessica Hinchy

This issue of Asian Studies Review includes a themed section that addresses agency in relation to women’s everyday lives and experiences in Asia. Four papers follow this Introduction: Siti Aisyah a...

This paper examines women’s experience of domestic violence within marriage in Makassar, South Sulawesi. It analyses the meaning of marriage for men and women, the roles of men and women within marriage, shifts in marriage practices – particularly the shift from arranged to “love” marriage – and unequal gender positions within marriage. We discuss some salient issues in the “margins of marriage” in Indonesia: polygyny and constructions of masculinity that condone the practice of polygyny/affairs, and attitudes towards divorce, particularly for women. We then examine women’s perception of the causes and triggers of domestic violence as revealed by fieldwork data, using the lens of women’s agency. Our findings are that women perceive that their expressions of agency – for instance in challenging men’s authority, moral righteousness and adequacy as breadwinners – are the most common triggers for male violence within marriage. Finally, we discuss the difficulty for women of escaping domestic violenc...

Abstract Scholarly predictions of the secularization of the world have proven premature. We see a heterogeneous world in which religion remains a significant and vital social and political force. This paper reflects critically upon secularization theory in order to see how scholars can productively respond to the, at least partly, religious condition of the world at the beginning of the twenty first century. We note that conventional multiculturalism theory and policy neglects religion, and argue the need for a reconceptualization of understanding of religion and secularity, particularly in a context of multicultural citizenship — such as in Australia and Indonesia. We consider the possibilities for religious pluralism in citizenship and for “religious citizenship”. Finally, we propose that religious citizenship education might be a site for fostering a tolerant and enquiring attitude towards religious diversity.

This article discusses the need to re-imagine multiculturalism and feminism in order to better accommodate women in minority cultures who are religious. It begins and ends with comments about multiculturalism and ‘difference feminism’ in Australia. In the body of the paper I use anthropological field-work in Indonesia, first to show that culture and religion are not separate and immutable, and secondly to show how Muslim women in the women's movement in Indonesia are using Islam to build a multicultural discourse. Finally I apply my findings about Muslim women activists in multicultural discourse in Indonesia to multiculturalism in Australia.

In 1998, Indonesia embarked on a journey to democracy. This journey involved the decentralization of education from 2002. The new school-based management (SBM) system required greater community and parental participation in schools—thereby, it was hoped, contributing to a deepening of democracy. Islamic schools ( madrasah) also adopted this policy reform. Here we present the findings of our research into community participation in madrasah in Indonesia. One of our principle findings, and concerns, is the low level of parental and community participation in madrasah governance. Parents feel they have no place in school governance or in teaching and learning. There is a concentration of power in the hands of principals, teachers and school founders (of private madrasah). In general, participation by teachers in madrasah governance is increasing. Also, there are examples of excellent madrasah, where the principals devolve power and responsibility to other teachers, cooperate with parents and community leaders, model exemplary behaviour and institutionalize a clear vision. The decentralization of education in Indonesia has not uniformly empowered citizens to become more involved in Islamic schools. The question remains how to extrapolate from practices at excellent madrasah to effectively articulate community enthusiasm for Islamic schooling and school governance nationwide.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to give a brief introduction to Second Life, and to provide an outline of how one academic librarian has got involved with using it and reviews the issues that have arisen from a library perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe paper offers a reflection on whether library activities in Second Life are different from library services in the real world and suggests that Second Life is just another “face” of the library.FindingsSecond Life is still in the very early stages of development. There are various barriers and challenges to overcome before it can be used widely within universities. However, this paper shows it does provide an opportunity to experiment and explore what information resources are required in this environment and how librarianship and librarians need to evolve to cater for users in a three dimensional world.Originality/valueThis paper is based on personal experience and offers as many questions as answers.

(2002). The subjectification of citizenship: student interpretations of school teachings in Bali. Asian Studies Review: Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 3-37.

Wacana akademis internasional tentang modernitas seringkali mengasumsikan modernitas bersifat universal dan homogen. Tulisan ini membantah asumsi tersebut melalui penelitian tentang medikalisasi kelahiran di Bali. Tiga tempat utama untuk melahirkan-rumah keluarga laki-laki, klinik lokal, dan rumah sakit umum daerah-memperlihatkan peningkatan derajat 'modern', namun banyak staf medis masih mengakomodasi praktik-praktik kelahiran tradisional. Sebagai contoh, keyakinan tentang kemampuan Kanda Mpat - empat spirit pelindung setiap bayi - diakomodasi, bahkan di rumah sakit sekalipun. Perawatan secararitual terhadap Kanda Mpat berlanjut; dan pengetahuan tentang Kanda Mpat secara umum meningkat. Tulisan ini menjelaskan bahwa keberlanjutan dan penyesuaian praktik-praktik kelahiran terhadap lingkungan baru memperlihatkan tidak adanya suatu pertentangan antara tradisi asli dan modernitas global. Wanita-wanita Bali menciptakan versi mereka sendiri tentang modernitas pada saat kelahiran.

This paper examines the meanings attached to sexuality and femininity by Minangkabau teenage girls in schools in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Schools in West Sumatra communicate a hegemonic, normative understanding of womanhood, and a moral consciousness of the female sexual body, to students. Different types of schools – academic, vocational and Islamic senior high schools – have a different ‘curriculum of the body’ (Lesko 1988) and differently discipline bodies and shape sexuality. School girls articulate their understanding of and practise their sexuality in ways that are characteristic of their class, gender and religiosity, mediated by their schools. The schools articulate a religiously-ordained and gendered social order, and impose social control. The different types of school render girls chaste and virtuous to varying degrees. Through everyday practices, this curriculum effects girls’ embodied experience of sexuality. Minangkabau teenage girls have a highly developed sense of their own sexuality, but, far from experiencing a sexual revolution as a result of globalization, most have developed a sexual awareness that is weighted with cultural and religious burdens. Minang female adolescent sexuality is a moral sexuality based on Islam and adat.