Current Institutional Affiliation
Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of Victoria

Award Information

International Dissertation Research Fellowship 2003
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Anthropology, University of California / Berkeley
Islamic Networks and the Politics of Privatization: Religious Economy in Post-Suharto Indonesia

This dissertation research project analyzes Islamic networks premised on what I term a “religious economy” in a post-Suharto Indonesian industrial zone. This investigation will analyze the role of Islamic networks in facilitating political mobilization in the context of privatization of a state-owned company, Krakatau Steel, is planned in the Cilegon religion of Indonesia. It will consist of 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork. This study uses past social science research on patron-client networks in the Southeast Asia to further contemporary studies of political Islam and economic globalization. I hypothesize that the prospect of imminent privatization is leading to the formation of local Islamic networks rooted in a “religious economy” based on notions of equality and justice both 1) to claim resources and 2) to reverse historic Javanese privileges.

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