The End of Dating? Romance and Courtship among Muslim Javanese Youth

Romantic love is going global. Recent ethnographic studies of youth have identified a new emphasis on romantic love and companionate marriage, perceived as a dramatic break with the previous generations and associated with emerging ideals of agency and choice. In the Muslim world, however, the religious resurgence is greatly complicating the romance story with some young people opting to forego dating for religiously-arranged matches. This paper looks at this new Islamic trend in Java, Indonesia, and examines the possibilities for romantic relationships in the context of a resurgent Islam.