Hefner Keynotes Muhammadiyah Ramadan Speaker Series
On April 16, 2021, Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, delivered a keynote lecture as part of the Muhammadiyah weekly Ramadan Speaker Series.
Hosted by the organization’s national leadership, the event takes place four times during the Muslim month of fast, and involves Muhammadiyah officials from across Indonesia. Hefner spoke on “The Reconstruction of the Values, Ethics, and Organizational Culture of the Muhammadiyah in an Age of Global Political Challenge.”
In his remarks, Hefner stated that Muhammadiyah is a pioneer in education and has more potential to be a ideal education prototype for Islamic states than other higher education institutions in the Islamic world. He went on to state that Indonesia can play a more significant role in education than other Islamic countries even though the state doesn’t have any remarkable history of tertiary institutions.
Read more about Hefner’s remarks on Muhammadiyah’s website.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is former president of the Association for Asian Studies. At CURA, he directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991; coordinated interdisciplinary research and public policy programs on religion, pluralism, and world affairs; and is currently involved in two research projects: “The New Western Plurality and Civic Coexistence: Muslims, Catholics, and Secularists in North America and Western Europe”; and “Sharia Transitions: Islamic Law and Ethical Plurality in the Contemporary World.” You can read more about Professor Hefner on his faculty profile.