Religion and Region as Agents of Change in Southeast Asia
Convenors: Elizabeth Morrell, Flinders University; Minako Sakai, University of New South Wales
Panel description: Decentralisation processes in several Southeast Asian nations are empowering local stakeholders to explore alternative forms of socio-economic development, and some of these are impacting on relationships with the state. At the same time, religion has become an increasing political force in many areas. In Indonesia, for example, regionalism and Islamism have emerged as compelling ways of understanding the changes affecting state power and policies. The growing influence of Islam on state policies in Malaysia is marginalising some minority groups. In southern Thailand and the southern Philippines, religion and regional socio-economic disparities are having far-reaching impacts. This panel will explore the independent yet interconnected forces of regional dynamics and religious politics as drivers of change in Southeast Asia. Within this framework, case studies will examine state-society and centre-periphery relations surrounding local development issues, assertions of identity, and their influences upon national integration.
Abstracts
Elizabeth Morrell, Flinders Asia Centre, Flinders University - Regional Development in Indonesia – Meeting Local Needs?
Minako Sakai, School of Humanities and Social Sciences. University of New South Wales - A New Wave of Indonesian Nationalism? Islamic Economy as a Challenge against Capitalism and Western Modernity
Taufiq Tanasaldy, Australian National University and University of New South Wales at ADFA - Decentralisation and Ethnic Politics in West Kalimantan
Gerhard Hoffstaedter, Anthropology & Sociology, School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University - Islam and its Universal Project: Malayness and Cosmopolitanism Reconsidered
Ian Chalmers, Division of Humanities, Curtin University of Technology - The Islamisation of Kalimantan: Local Ethnic Identity versus Universalism
Yasir Alimi, Department of Anthropology, RSPAS, Australian National University - Sharia and its Muslim Discontents: Islam, Decentralisation and Supercentralisation in Contemporary South Sulawesi
Saroja Dorairajoo, National University of Singapore - Good Muslim, Bad Malay: Interpreting the Current Violence in Southern Thailand
Kit Collier, Faculty of Asian Studies / Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University - State Failure, Regional Autonomy and Muslim Identity in the Southern Philippines
Dr Mary Ida Bagus - Independent Scholar - Ajeg Bali - A Response to Danger and Conflict in Bali
