Gender and Power in Indonesian Islam: Leaders, feminists, Sufis and pesantren selves

This book discusses the understandings of gender and Islam in pesantren and Sufi orders in Indonesia. It contributes to the decolonization of the anthropology of Islam in Indonesia, confronting ideological and intellectual tropes of (neo)-colonialism in two ways. Firstly, it deconstructs categories denying the "authenticity" of Indonesian Islams on the basis of comparison with the Arab Middle East, and secondly, it critically examines the salience of expatriate and diasporic Middle Eastern Muslim feminist discourses and secular western feminist analyses in Indonesian contexts. By considering the distinct but related Muslim gender cultures in pesantren and Sufi orders in Java, Lombok and Aceh, the book examines the broader function of pesantren as a force for redefining existing modes of Muslim subjectivity and cultivating new ones.