Untangling Conversion: Religious Change and Identity among the Forest Tobelo of Indonesia

Duncan, Christopher R.

doi:10.2307/3773831

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Conversion can be a tool of social distinction, as is the case with the Forest Tobelo foragers of northeastern Indonesia, who converted to Christianity in an attempt to maintain their distinctiveness from coastal communities with whom they had had a long history of poor relations (Duncan 2003). Conversion can also be a tool of mobility.…”

Section: Convergences and Conversions Of Contested Fault Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making a Difference: The Political Life of Religious Conversion

Kravel-Tovi

2023

Annu. Rev. Anthropol.

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This article reviews the anthropological scholarship that engages with religious conversion as a political phenomenon, broadly defined. It develops the idea of making a difference as an overarching framework with a double meaning. First, this idiom captures how, by framing religious conversion in political terms, anthropologists have claimed to have substantially intervened—have made a difference, so to speak—in the discussion of conversion. Second, the article sets aside the prevalent problematization of conversion as a category of change, showing instead how anthropologists have sought to establish how religious change makes a difference—in the interweaved realities of individuals, collectives, and polities. I scrutinize and contextualize the belated consolidation of this area of inquiry, map its major strands, and identify the interrelated theoretical developments within anthropology. Seeing these strands as a generative domain of inquiry, I conclude with a number of suggestions for future research, such as paying closer attention to political conversions and to the links between religious conversion and political crises.

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Section: Convergences and Conversions Of Contested Fault Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making a Difference: The Political Life of Religious Conversion

Kravel-Tovi

2023

Annu. Rev. Anthropol.

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“…Literature also shows that women’s attraction to Islam is not alien to the highly gendered nature of Muslim lifestyle as well as to its conservative family model (Ammar et al., 2004; Martin, 1995; Vanzan, 1996). For women, embracing Islam or “reverting” to Islam may actually appear as a strategy of resistance to social changes or local cultural dynamics (Duncan, 2003; Searing, 2003). Converts often express political stances regarding modernity, tradition, among others (Brenner, 1996).…”

Section: Conversions To Islam In the Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

The intimate and the stranger: Approaching the “Muslim question” through the eyes of female converts to Islam

Mossière

2016

Critical Research on Religion

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Drawing on an ethnography among Quebecois and French female new Muslims, I consider how converts epitomize and embody the “encounter” between Muslim and western societies. By choosing Islam, converts position themselves on the margins, giving them a unique perspective on the “West.” My participants’ reflexive narratives hinge on continuity/disruption dialectics that dissolve the commonly held dichotomy between Sameness and Otherness. In analyzing these narratives, I view subjectivity as a rhetorical construction and elaborate upon converts’ daily intimate encounters and dialogues with Otherness in social spaces. In light of Simmel’s figure of the Stranger based on distance and proximity, I show that converts’ experiences echo the “pacific coexistence” that Muslim and European populations have experienced historically. I argue that narratives are crucial to understanding how Islam—as a political and symbolic language of Otherness—can help frame and profile emergent western subjects and identities.

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“…Coastal communities in Indonesia have unique characteristics in their social, cultural, and religious life (Choirunnisa & Giyarsih, 2018;Duncan, 2003;Supriati & Umar, 2020). As communities living in coastal areas, their daily lives are influenced by the sea and other natural resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preserving Faith and Tradition: The Role of Traditional Leaders and Mosques in the Socio-Religious Life of Coastal Communities

Qodim

2023

Khazanah Hukum

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This research study investigates the crucial role played by traditional leaders and local mosques in preserving religious and cultural values in the Eretan Wetan coastal community in Indramayu, West Java. Utilizing a sociological approach and observational and interview-based data collection techniques, the study found that Eretan Wetan is a highly religious community where religious and cultural values influence and strengthen each other, despite the disruptions caused by modernity. The mosque serves as a center for both ritual worship and community empowerment, and traditional clerics resist modernity. The research highlights the importance of preserving coastal communities' religious and cultural values and recognizing the roles of traditional leaders and mosques in their socio-religious life. This study is expected to provide input and recommendations for policymakers in developing coastal communities sustainably while preserving their religious and cultural values.

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Untangling Conversion: Religious Change and Identity among the Forest Tobelo of Indonesia

Cited by 15 publications

References 18 publications

Making a Difference: The Political Life of Religious Conversion

Making a Difference: The Political Life of Religious Conversion

The intimate and the stranger: Approaching the “Muslim question” through the eyes of female converts to Islam

Preserving Faith and Tradition: The Role of Traditional Leaders and Mosques in the Socio-Religious Life of Coastal Communities

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