On being a religiously tolerant Muslim: discursive contestations among pre-service teachers in contemporary Indonesia

Abstract

This study examines the constitution of religiously tolerant subjectivity among Indonesian Muslim pre-service teachers. Complementing existing studies in religious tolerance education which were mainly survey-based and experimental, this qualitative research employed a discourse analysis methodology which connects individual-level analysis with the larger socio-religio-political situations in contemporary Indonesia. Specifically, this study aims to explore discourses drawn upon by young Muslim preservice teachers to understand religious tolerance in the context of contemporary Indonesia, a Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country struggling to navigate its history of moderate Islam and a recent surge of conservatism. The findings exhibited three key discourses through which participants' religiously tolerant subjectivity was constituted, namely, a discourse of spiritual Islam, a discourse of postmodern sensibilities, and a discourse of concern over the growing conservative, Islamist, and radical groups. The implications were discussed in relation to how religious tolerance education can be advanced by drawing upon these key discourses.

Faith and fandom: young Indonesian Muslims negotiating K-pop and Islam

“…Life isn't black and white, it's all about balance." Through Aisyah's engagement with K-pop, she demonstrates a spiritual understanding of Islam; one that is not doctrinal and authoritative, nor focusing on obedience, morality, and piety as commonly advocated by the conservatives (Wijaya Mulya et al, 2021b). The constitution of her subjectivity as a Muslim K-pop fan here evidenced a resistance against the widespread conservative Islamic discourses in contemporary Indonesia.…”

Changes in religious attitudes and behaviors of Euro‐Turk students with theology education

“…While students were angrier at this kind prior to education (mean: 1.56), the intensity of anger decreased with education (mean: 2.01), indicating that education enhanced tolerance for others. Students' encounters with diversity in their own religions may also have an effect in this change (Mulya et al, 2021, p. 77). This shift could indicate a drop in radicalism among students who completed the religious education based on the main sources of Islam.…”

Locally-grounded, embodied, and spiritual: exploring alternative constructions of democratic education with/in Indonesian schools

“…Some of the post-1998 governments, democracy activists, and moderate religious leaders have engaged in efforts to contest and curb the growing conservatism, anti-democratic Islamist groups, the persecution of religious minorities, and terrorist bombings (Fealy 2019;Mietzner 2018). Correspondingly, in the field of education, international and Indonesian studies on democratic education have discussed similar tensions between religious truth claims and democratic multicultural citizenship (e.g., Ahmad 2004;Wijaya Mulya, Aditomo, and Suryani 2021) or exploring religious discourses which are supportive of democracy (e.g., Saada and Gross 2017). However, little is known about how (religio-)spiritual democracy may manifest in education, particularly how it might expand and challenge the dominant meanings of democracy to include wider cosmological entities.…”