Hefner Featured in Celebration of Indonesia’s Independence Day
Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and of International Relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Director of the School’s Center for the Study of Asia, was among three Western Indonesianists to take part in a special BBC Indonesia broadcast celebrating Indonesia’s Independence Day.
The piece, titled “HUT RI ke-77: Kiprah Indonesianis meneliti Indonesia – ‘Orang bule ini kenapa masuk pesantren ini, masuk pesantren itu?’” (77th Indonesian Independence Day: Indonesianist Gait Researching Indonesia – ‘Why are these Caucasians going to this pesantren, to that boarding school?’), highlighted the diverse ways in which the three featured scholars come to appreciate Indonesia and Muslim society in Indonesia in particular.
An excerpt:
‘Thirty years ago when I started my career as an Indonesianist, most Americans, as well as most Middle Easterners, didn’t know much about Indonesia,’ [Hefner] said, adding that Indonesia’s name was increasingly known to the world after the Reformation [post-1998 return to democracy] era. Why is that? ‘Because look at the Arab Spring which was passed around 2010-2011. If we compare the Arab Spring with the Indonesian Reformation era [after Indonesia returned to democracy in 1998] the history is much different. It is very different. Not a single country, with the exception of Tunisia, has gone through the Arab Spring and then succeeded at establishing, a democratic political system. Indonesia has, and that is something to celebrate.’
The full story can be read (in Indonesia) on BBC Indonesia‘s website.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is the 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.” Read more about Professor Hefner on his faculty profile.