Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T05:39:58.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Javanese Women and the Veil in Post-Soeharto Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2007

Nancy J. Smith-Hefner
Get access

Abstract

This article examines the practice and meanings of the new veiling and of Islamization more generally for young Muslim Javanese women in the new middle class. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic research in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta in 1999 and three subsequent one-month visits during 2001, 2002, and 2003, I explore the social and religious attitudes of female students at two of Yogyakarta's leading centers of higher education: Gadjah Mada University, a nondenominational state university, and the nearby Sunan Kalijaga National Islamic University. The ethnographic and life-historical materials discussed here underscore that the new veiling is neither a traditionalist survival nor an antimodernist reaction but rather a complex and sometimes ambiguous effort by young Muslim women to reconcile the opportunities for autonomy and choice offered by modern education with a heightened commitment to the profession of Islam.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , May 2007 , pp. 389 - 420
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Abu-Lughod, Lila, ed. 1998. Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adipurnami, Sita. 1996. “A Feminist Comment on the Sinetron Presentation of Indonesian Women.” In Fantasizing the Feminine in Indonesia, ed. Sears, Laurie J, 249–58. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alatas, Alwi and Desliyanti, Fifrida. 2002. Revolusi Jilbab: Kasus Pelarang Jilbab di SMA Negeri Se-Jabotabek, 1982–1991 [The Jilbab Revolution: The Prohibition of Headscarves in State Schools in the Jabotabek Region, 1982–1991]. Jakarta: Al-I'tishom.Google Scholar
Al-Ghifari, Abu. 2001. Kudung Gaul: Berjilbab tapi Telanjang [Sexy Headscarves: Veiled but Naked]. 7th ed.Bandung: Mujahid Press.Google Scholar
Ask, Karin, and Tjomsland, Marit, eds. 1998. Women and Islamization: Contemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations. Oxford, U.K.: Berg.Google Scholar
Asy-Syayi, Khalid Bin Abdurrahman. 2000. Bahaya Mode [The Dangers of Fashion]. 8th ed.Jakarta: Gema Insani Press.Google Scholar
Bachtiar, H. W. 1973. “The Religion of Java: A Commentary.” Majalah Ilmu-Ilmu Sastra Indonesia 5 (1): 85–118.Google Scholar
Blackburn, Susan. 2004. Women and the State in Modern Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenner, Suzanne A. 1995. “Why Women Rule the Roost: Rethinking Javanese Ideologies of Gender and Self-Control.” In Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, ed. Ong, Aihwa and Peletz, Michael G., 19–50. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Brenner, Suzanne A. 1996. “Reconstructing Self and Society: Javanese Muslim Women and ‘the Veil.’ ” American Ethnologist 23 (4): 673–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenner, Suzanne A. 1999. The Domestication of Desire: Women, Wealth, and Modernity in Java. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Brenner, Suzanne A. 2005. “Islam and Gender Politics in Late New Order Indonesia.” In Spirited Politics: Religion and Public Life in Contemporary Southeast Asia, ed. Willford, Andrew C and George, Kenneth M, 93–118. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program Publications.Google Scholar
Collins, Elizabeth F. 2004. “Islam and the Habits of Democracy.” Indonesia 78:93–120.Google Scholar
Cote, Joost, trans. 1995. Letters from Kartini: An Indonesian Feminist. Monash: Monash Asia Institute.Google Scholar
Dhofier, Zamakhsyari. 1999. The Pesantren Tradition: The Role of the Kyai in the Maintenance of Traditional Islam in Java. Tempe: Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Monograph Series Press.Google Scholar
Djajadiningrat-Nieuwenhuis, Madelon. 1992. “Ibuism and Priyayization: Path to Power?” In Indonesian Women in Focus: Past and Present Notions, ed. Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth and Niehof, Anke, 42–51. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Duval, Soroya. 1998. “New Veils and New Voices: Islamist Women's Groups in Egypt.” In Women and Islamization: Contemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations, ed. Ask, Karin and Tjomsland, Marit, 45–72. Oxford, U.K.: Berg.Google Scholar
Dzuhayatin, Siti Ruhaini. 2001. “Gender and Pluralism in Indonesia.” In The Politics of Multiculturalism: Pluralism and Citizenship in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, ed. Hefner, Robert W.253–67. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Emmerson, Donald K. 1978. “The Bureaucracy in Political Context: Weakness in Strength.” In Political Power and Communications in Indonesia, ed. Jackson, Karl D. and Pye, Lucien W.82–136. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feillard, Andrée. 1995. Islam et armée dans l'Indonésie contemporaine: Les pionniers de la tradition [Islam and Army in Contemporary Indonesia: Pioneers of Tradition]. Paris: Association Archipiel/Éditions L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. 1960. The Religion of Java. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Geertz, Hildred. 1961. The Javanese Family: A Study of Kinship and Socialization. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
George, Kenneth M. 1998. “Designs on Indonesia's Muslim Communities.” Journal of Asian Studies 57 (3): 693–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gouda, Francis. 1995. Dutch Culture Overseas: Colonial Practice in the Netherlands Indies, 1900–1942. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, and Esposito, John L. eds. 1998. Islam, Gender, and Social Change. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hart, Gillian. 1978. “Labor Allocation Strategies in Rural Javanese Households.” PhD diss., Cornell University.Google Scholar
Hefner, Robert W. 1993. “Islam, State, and Civil Society: ICMI and the Struggle for the Indonesian Middle Class.” Indonesia 56: 1–35.Google Scholar
Hefner, Robert W. 2000. Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hefner, Robert W. 2005. “Muslim Democrats and Islamist Violence in Post-Soeharto Indonesia.” In Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization, ed. Hefner, Robert W273–301. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hull, Terence, and Jones, Gavin W. 1994. “Demographic Perspectives.” In Indonesia's New Order: The Dynamics of Socio-Economic Transformation, ed. Hill, Hal, 123–78. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Hull, Valerie J. 1975. “Fertility, Socioeconomic Status and the Position of Women in a Javanese Village.” PhD diss., Australian National University.Google Scholar
Hull, Valerie J. 1982. “Women in Java's Rural Middle Class: Progress or Regress?” In Women of Southeast Asia, ed. Van Esterik, Penny78–95. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Jansen, Wilhelmina. 1998. “Contested Identities: Women and Religion in Algeria and Jordan.” In Women and Islamization: Contemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations, ed. Ask, Karin and Tjomsland, Marit, 73–102. Oxford, U.K.: Berg.Google Scholar
Jay, Robert. 1969. Javanese Villagers: Social Relations in Rural Modjokuto. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Gavin W. 1994. Marriage and Divorce in Islamic South-East Asia. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Keeler, Ward. 1987. Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Koentjaraningrat, . 1985. Javanese Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Koning, Juliette. 2000. “Different Times, Different Orientations: Family Life in a Javanese Village.” In Women and Households in Indonesia: Cultural Notions and Social Practices, ed. Koning, Juliette, Nolten, Marleen, Rodenburg, Janet and Saptari, Ratna, 181–207. Richmond, U.K.: Curzon Press.Google Scholar
Kraince, Richard G. 2003. The Role of Islamic Student Activists in Divergent Movements for Reform during Indonesia's Transition from Authoritarian Rule, 1998–2001. PhD diss., Ohio University.Google Scholar
Liddle, William. 1996. “The Islamic Turn in Indonesia: A Political Explanation.” Journal of Asian Studies 55 (3): 613–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindquist, Johan. 2004. “Veils and Ecstasy: Negotiating Shame in the Indonesian Borderlands.” Ethnos 69 (4): 487–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macleod, Arlene Elowe. 1991. Accommodating Protest: Working Women, the New Veiling, and Change in Cairo. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Macleod, Arlene Elowe. 1992. “Hegemonic Relations and Gender Resistance: The New Veiling as Accommodating Protest in Cairo.” Signs 17 (3): 533–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrid, Robin. 1999. “Islamic Students in the Indonesian Student Movement, 1998–1999: Forces for Moderation.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 31 (3): 17–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mujani, Saiful. 2003. “Religious Democrats: Democratic Culture and Muslim Political Participation in Post-Suharto Indonesia.” PhD diss. Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Nagata, Judith. 1995. “Modern Malay Women and the Message of the ‘Veil.’” In ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ in Developing Southeast Asia, ed. Wazir Jahan, Karim101–20. Oxford, U.K.: Berg.Google Scholar
Oey-Gardiner, Mayling. 1991. “Gender Differences in Schooling in Indonesia.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 27 (1): 57–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ong, Aihwa. 1990. “State versus Islam: Malay Families, Women's Bodies, and the Body Politic in Malaysia.” American Ethnologist 17 (2): 258–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ong, Aihwa, and Peletz, Michael G., eds. 1995. Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papanek, Hanna. 1973. “Purdah: Separate Worlds and Symbolic Shelter.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 15 (3): 289–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peacock, James L. 1978. Muslim Puritans: Reformist Psychology in Southeast Asian Islam. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peletz, Michael G. 2002. Islamic Modern: Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rahmat, Andi, and Najib, Mukhammad. 2001. Gerakan Perlawanan dari Masjid Kampus [The Opposition Movement from the Campus Mosque]. Surakarta: Purimedia.Google Scholar
Raudvere, Catharina. 1998. “Female Dervishes in Contemporary Istanbul: Between Tradition and Modernity.” In Women and Islamization: Contemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations, ed. Ask, Karin and Tjomsland, Marit, 125–45. Oxford, U.K.: Berg.Google Scholar
Robinson, Kathryn. 2000. “Indonesian Women: From Orde Baru to Reformasi.” In Women in Asia: Tradition, Modernity, and Globalisation, ed. Edwards, Louise and Roces, Mina, 139–65. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Sears, Laurie J 1996. “Fragile Identities: Deconstructing Women and Indonesia.” In Fantasizing the Feminine in Indonesia, ed. Sears, Laurie J.1–46. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, Krishna. 2002. “Indonesian Women at Work: Reframing the Subject.” In Gender and Power in Affluent Asia, ed. Sen, Krishna and Stivens, Maila, 35–62. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shahab, Husein. 1993. Jilbab Menurut Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah [The Veil According to the Koran and Customs of the Prophet]. Bandung: Mizan Press.Google Scholar
Smith-Hefner, Nancy J. 1988. “Women and Politeness: The Javanese Example.” Language in Society 17 (4): 535–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith-Hefner, Nancy J. 2005. “The New Muslim Romance: Changing Patterns of Courtship and Marriage among Educated Javanese Youth.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 36 (3): 441–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoler, Ann. 1975. “Land, Labor and Female Autonomy in a Javanese Village.” PhD diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar
Stoler, Ann. 1977. “Class Structure and Female Autonomy in Rural Java.” Signs 3 (1): 74–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suryakusuma, Julia I. 1996. “The State and Sexuality in New Order Indonesia.” In Fantasizing the Feminine in Indonesia, ed. Sears, Laurie J92–119. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiwon, Sylvia. 1996. “Models and Maniacs: Articulating the Female in Indonesia.” In Fantasizing the Feminine in Indonesia, ed. Sears, Laurie J47–70. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Doorn-Harder, Pieternella. 2006. Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur'an in Indonesia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
White, Benjamin. 1976. “Production and Reproduction in a Javanese Village.” PhD diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar
White, Jenny B. 2002. Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: Study in Vernacular Politics. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Woodward, Mark. 1989. Islam in Java: Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Zuhur, Sherifa. 1992. Revealing Reveiling: Islamist Gender Ideology in Contemporary Egypt. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar