Modernising Islam through Indonesia's New Media: Celebrity Preachers and the Shaping of Cosmopolitan Values. Indonesia is recognised as a leading producer of moderate Muslim scholarships, reconciling Islam to modern, pluralistic political life, but little is understood of how cosmopolitan values permeate everyday religious practice. This project focuses on an emergent arena of Indonesian Muslim communication, celebrity preaching, to determine how 'modern' modes of religiosity are being promoted ....Modernising Islam through Indonesia's New Media: Celebrity Preachers and the Shaping of Cosmopolitan Values. Indonesia is recognised as a leading producer of moderate Muslim scholarships, reconciling Islam to modern, pluralistic political life, but little is understood of how cosmopolitan values permeate everyday religious practice. This project focuses on an emergent arena of Indonesian Muslim communication, celebrity preaching, to determine how 'modern' modes of religiosity are being promoted through the new electronic media. It examines how communications and religious practices cultivated in this arena help middle and upper class Muslims respond to destabilising social changes with reflexive and tolerant stances supportive of civic pluralism, and identifies the conditions in which they might yield to fundamentalism.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0775828
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$12,373.00
Summary
A study of Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist Monks in modernising China. This project will analyse the relationship between religion and modernisation in China. There is a tendency for modernising states to abandon or marginalise traditional religions but paradoxically, while religious practice has undergone transformation and reform in China, Buddhism has not only survived but flourished over the last two decades. This project will investigate these changes and will assist in broadening the fields ....A study of Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist Monks in modernising China. This project will analyse the relationship between religion and modernisation in China. There is a tendency for modernising states to abandon or marginalise traditional religions but paradoxically, while religious practice has undergone transformation and reform in China, Buddhism has not only survived but flourished over the last two decades. This project will investigate these changes and will assist in broadening the fields of expertise in the vibrant and growing field of Buddhist studies within Australia, a development that will undoubtedly help to forge closer links in the region, both in academic forums and more broadly with informal people-to-people contact.Read moreRead less
Islam and the Politics of Memory and Identity in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia. This project will make a vital contribution to understanding the past and present of Indonesia, Australia's most significant neighbour. The project investigates the legacy of competition between two of the most influential ideological and political forces in Indonesian history, communism and Islam, and examines their continuing significance to contemporary Indonesian identities. My analysis will profile the diverse ra ....Islam and the Politics of Memory and Identity in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia. This project will make a vital contribution to understanding the past and present of Indonesia, Australia's most significant neighbour. The project investigates the legacy of competition between two of the most influential ideological and political forces in Indonesian history, communism and Islam, and examines their continuing significance to contemporary Indonesian identities. My analysis will profile the diverse range of Islamic opinions in Indonesia on reconciliation and provide broader comparative insights into the processes of dealing with traumatic pasts.Read moreRead less
A Historical and Cultural Analysis of Qigong in Contemporary China. This project will assist Australians to understand important developments in contemporary Chinese society, enhancing the basis of our bilateral relationship, especially in discussions of human rights and refugee issues. A better knowledge of qigong will also promote social and religious understanding in Australia where qigong practice is a significant feature of some sectors of society. This project will complement and enhance ....A Historical and Cultural Analysis of Qigong in Contemporary China. This project will assist Australians to understand important developments in contemporary Chinese society, enhancing the basis of our bilateral relationship, especially in discussions of human rights and refugee issues. A better knowledge of qigong will also promote social and religious understanding in Australia where qigong practice is a significant feature of some sectors of society. This project will complement and enhance Australia's already strong international reputation in contemporary Chinese Studies and foster future collaborations and networks. Finally, it will also give unique insights, from a particular Australian perspective, on the impact of the international media on the creation of China issues in a global context.Read moreRead less
Captivity Remembered: Slavery, Islam and Identity Formation in the Sulu Zone, 1768-1898. This project will promote collaborative and comparative research on slavery and other forms of unfree labour, Islam and cultural hybridity. It will provide knowledge to governments, educators and religious leaders concerned with ending Muslim-Christian conflict in the Philippines, about the more socially inclusive nature of Islam and the process by which Muslim states and societies changed the ethnic identit ....Captivity Remembered: Slavery, Islam and Identity Formation in the Sulu Zone, 1768-1898. This project will promote collaborative and comparative research on slavery and other forms of unfree labour, Islam and cultural hybridity. It will provide knowledge to governments, educators and religious leaders concerned with ending Muslim-Christian conflict in the Philippines, about the more socially inclusive nature of Islam and the process by which Muslim states and societies changed the ethnic identities and spiritual beliefs of captives. It will also reveal the paradoxes of the historically conditioned response to the trauma and difference caused by Muslim slavery in the Sulu Zone that has governed the thinking and social practise of the Philippine community and other nations. Read moreRead less
Elephants in the sacred grove: a transcultural history of Thomas Jones and the Calvinistic Methodist mission to the Khasi Hills. This project will assert the central role of religion in shaping cultural, political and ethnic identity, through an analysis of the Christian evangelical encounter in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills, India, and in particular the work of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist missionary Thomas Jones (1810-1849). It will challenge current views of the simplistic relationship between m ....Elephants in the sacred grove: a transcultural history of Thomas Jones and the Calvinistic Methodist mission to the Khasi Hills. This project will assert the central role of religion in shaping cultural, political and ethnic identity, through an analysis of the Christian evangelical encounter in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills, India, and in particular the work of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist missionary Thomas Jones (1810-1849). It will challenge current views of the simplistic relationship between missions and colonial order, exploring missionaries' spiritual, modernising and imperialist ideologies, as well as indigenous negotiations and adaptations of the missionary project. This will provide a significant new base for understanding the historical trajectory of Christianisation and acculturation, and inform contemporary debates about reconciliation and decolonisation.Read moreRead less
RELIGION, POWER AND CRISIS IN INDONESIA AND THAILAND: Islamic and Buddhist Responses to Globalising Markets and Cultures. Religion has been central to state power in Indonesia (Islam) and Thailand (Buddhism), both historically and throughout recent dramatic shifts in economic and political circumstances. This study examines how institutional and popular religious movements now relate to political authority in Southeast Asia's economically and strategically most important countries. It will ana ....RELIGION, POWER AND CRISIS IN INDONESIA AND THAILAND: Islamic and Buddhist Responses to Globalising Markets and Cultures. Religion has been central to state power in Indonesia (Islam) and Thailand (Buddhism), both historically and throughout recent dramatic shifts in economic and political circumstances. This study examines how institutional and popular religious movements now relate to political authority in Southeast Asia's economically and strategically most important countries. It will analyse: (1) comparative Islamic and Buddhist fundamentalisms; (2) democratisation and changing patterns of state influence on religion; and (3) marketisation, mass media and religion as popular culture, thereby filling major gaps in the globalisation literature and transcending the limitations of single-country studies of Southeast Asian regional affairs.Read moreRead less
Religion and Governance in India, c.1000-2000 CE. This project will add significantly to the fund of Australian knowledge about the most important country in our region. It will feed into the continuing debate in this country on the proper balance between secularism and 'multiculturalism'. It will enhance our international scholarly reputation. By illuminating ways in which Indian governments have managed to mediate and contain social tensions produced by warring fundamentalisms, it will assist ....Religion and Governance in India, c.1000-2000 CE. This project will add significantly to the fund of Australian knowledge about the most important country in our region. It will feed into the continuing debate in this country on the proper balance between secularism and 'multiculturalism'. It will enhance our international scholarly reputation. By illuminating ways in which Indian governments have managed to mediate and contain social tensions produced by warring fundamentalisms, it will assist our policy-makers in identifying aspects of Australian communal life at risk of expolitation by zealots linked to overseas terrorist networks, thereby adding to our security.Read moreRead less
Writing the new history of British Imperialism its European, African and Australian context. I plan to complete several related projects already under way which are linked to the project title. The Oxford History of Missions in the British Empire will recast the way we think about the historical impact of Christian Missions. The Mapping Project compares the role played by surveyors and maps in the colononization of Australia and South Africa. Imperium of the Soul explores connections between d ....Writing the new history of British Imperialism its European, African and Australian context. I plan to complete several related projects already under way which are linked to the project title. The Oxford History of Missions in the British Empire will recast the way we think about the historical impact of Christian Missions. The Mapping Project compares the role played by surveyors and maps in the colononization of Australia and South Africa. Imperium of the Soul explores connections between deep currents of European intellectual life and the productions of key artists associated with British imperialism.
I will be revising my book on Theories of Imperialism and researching new work on war and conquest.
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Academies under Stress: the Reinvention and Survival of Platonist Schools, 360BC-AD565. This project promises new insights into the versatility that is required for an intellectual movement to fend off social, political, religious, and intellectual pressures, preserving whatever is thought central to its mission, and responding positively to the needs and demands of successive eras. Though grounded in antiquity, and involving a Greek movement's response to successive Macedonian, Roman, and Chris ....Academies under Stress: the Reinvention and Survival of Platonist Schools, 360BC-AD565. This project promises new insights into the versatility that is required for an intellectual movement to fend off social, political, religious, and intellectual pressures, preserving whatever is thought central to its mission, and responding positively to the needs and demands of successive eras. Though grounded in antiquity, and involving a Greek movement's response to successive Macedonian, Roman, and Christian pressures, or to other pressures of a social, political, scientific, and religious nature, modern analogies will be instructive. In particular it should offer lessons both for higher educational bodies and for minority intellectual or religious movements responding to mono-cultural pressures that regularly arise. Read moreRead less