Java, Indonesia and Islam

Wayang Kulit and The Growth of Islam in Java

“…Ricklefs, 2006a). This early influence was in line with the Orientalist portrayal of Java where the real Javanese faith was depicted as a largely undefined mixture of Hinduism and/or Buddhism expressed in classical dance, the wayang, the music (gamelan), and numinous sects (Woodward, 2011).…”

Cultural Psychology of Coping with Disasters

“…Given the vast extent of the islands and the plurality of ethnic identities and languages they encompass, cultural plurality and national unity form a dynamic tension, as expressed in the national slogan of "Unity in Diversity." Since the early formation of Indonesian nationalism at the beginning of the twentieth century, Java and the Javanese culture have occupied a privileged position within the multicultural state and have been construed as a superior cultural resource (see Woodward 2011;Li 2000). Key concepts of national ideology and political rule drew heavily from Javanese cosmologies.…”

“…Every citizen needed to affiliate with one of the five recognized religions: Islam, Protestant Christianity, Roman Catholic Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism (Woodward 2011). Anyone one who did not at least nominally affiliate with one of these religions was officially marked as "not having a religion yet" (belum beragama).…”

Redefining The Term of Dukun

“…These include, for example, Lemelson, who investigated balian traditional healers of Bali (Lemelson, 2004, p. 57); Foley, who investigated the paraji of West Java (Foley, 1984, p. 54); Viner and Kaplan, who investigated the guru of the Pakpak Batak (Viner & Kaplan, 1981, p. 98); Bernstein, who investigated the balien in Kalimantan (Bernstein, 1993, p. 1); Trisakti who investigated the balin of the Dayak (Trisakti, 2009); and Matondang, who investigated the balian of the Dayak Paser (Matondang, 2014). The practice of shamanism in Java has attracted numerous researchers, including Geertz (Geertz, 1976), Mulder (Mulder, 2005a), Daniels (Daniels, 2009a), Sofwan (Sofwan, 2010) Woodward (Woodward, 2011), Hesselink (Monnais & Cook, 2012a), Indrasuari (Indrasuari, 2012) and Sutiono (Sutiono, 2014).…”