Sustaining a Global Society:Languages of the Wider World

Indonesian and Malay for accessing Islamic Cultures in

Southeast Asia

Teresa Birks, SOAS

29th March 2012

Malayo-Polynesian languages in SE Asia

Linguistic context• Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) languages• Indonesian a form of Malay – oral tradition• Malay a lingua franca from circa 1300 CE• Associated with the spread of Islam (early 14th century)• Islam and Arabic script disseminate language further, faster• Many words from Arabic, especially terms referring to aspects

of worship and Islamic jurisprudence• National languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei & Singapore• 6th most widely spoken language – circa 250 million• Circa 40 million mother tongue speakers• Now predominantly written in roman script• Closely related to local languages of Islamic communities e.g.

Kelantanese (Malaysia), Minangkabau (Indonesia), Yawi (Thailand)

Religious and cultural context

• Vietnam & Cambodia – oldest textual history, Kufic inscriptions from 1035 CE (Vietnam)

• Earliest conversion of a Malay ruler c.1280 CE – spread of Islam early 14th century, beyond elite sphere early 17th century

• 215 million people or 40% of SE Asia’s population Muslim

• Indonesia has world’s largest Muslim population (190 million)

• Official religion of Malaysia (for Malays) and Brunei

• Muslim communities in Singapore (15%), Philippines (5-9%), Thailand (4.6%), Burma (4%)in Cambodia (2-5%), Vietnam (0.1%)

Islam in Southeast Asia http://sites.asiasociety.org/education/islam_in_seasia/images/maps/11SEAsiaReligions.pdf

Characterizing Islam in SE Asia…

“Islamic communities of SE Asia are diverse, complex and increasingly influential in the broader Islamic world. However, the extraordinary breadth of practices and norms across the Muslim world is not widely understood outside the region – often because of the difficulty of locating and putting into context the material produced by Muslims themselves”

Back cover, Fealy G & Hooker, V. Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Contemporary Source Book (2006) ISEAS Singapore

Role of the vernacular in Islamic Cultures of SE Asia

As noted by Fealy and Hooker:• Most Southeast Asian Muslims learn about Islam

through their own vernaculars• Vernacular acts as a bridge between original sources

and contemporary faithful• Arabic terms transferred from the Arabic script to the

vernacular • Languages of Islam in SE Asia numerous and diverse• Richness of SE Asian Islam is expressed in local

languagesp.2 Fealy G & Hooker, V. Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Contemporary Source Book (2006) ISEAS Singapore

Perceptions of Islam in SE Asia

Indonesia“Because of the archipelago’s position in the

Southeastern Indian ocean, far from the authentic Muslim lands of the Arab world, because of its Hindu-Buddhist cultural legacy, and because of the suppression of Muslim energies during the long period of Dutch colonial rule, Indonesian Muslim practice has often been characterized as impure syncretism”

Professor Anne Rasmussen – The Aesthetics of Arab Music, Language, and Performance in the Worlds of Indonesian Islam (abstract), presented at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, Barcelona, 2010http://www.smlc.religionmusic.leeds.ac.uk/assets/Islam%20in%20Performance%20Poster.pdf (accessed 18.3.12)

Increased influence in the Islamic world

“Key to Indonesian Islamic arts (…) are the aesthetics of Arabic language and music, which constitute a global aesthetic system that Indonesian artists both reference and resist depending on their cultural background and political orientation.

From seashore to department store the contexts and contents of Islamic music in Indonesia represents a vibrant and meaningful stream of Indonesian culture as well as an aspect of global Islam that is creative, dynamic and sophisticated”Professor Anne Rasmussen – The Aesthetics of Arab Music, Language, and Performance in the Worlds of Indonesian Islam (abstract), presented at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, Barcelona, 2010http://www.smlc.religionmusic.leeds.ac.uk/assets/Islam%20in%20Performance%20Poster.pdf (accessed 18.3.12)

Local vs Universal“Since the 1980s there has been a consistent effort to move away

from evaluating Islam in SE Asia according to norms found in the Arab world. This has been accompanied by parallel developments by Indonesian and Malaysian intellectuals that have attempted to draw a boundary between Islam and Arab culture in contestation of increasing numbers of people in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia subscribing to a Middle Eastern sense of Islamic orthodoxy and abandoning practices deemed too 'local’. This 'battle' for the definition of Islamic orthodoxy and the question of what is local and what is universal in Islam continues to this day”

Dr Kostas Retsikas, ESRC research project, Cultivating Generosity: Islam, the ‘Gift Market’ and the Middle-Class in Indonesia, SOAS, email communication 16.3.12

Research examplesIslam in contemporary SE Asia

National University of Singapore – International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies (ICAIOS)

Islamic Law and Society project• Political changes in Aceh have created new dynamics in evolving

local understandings of the interaction between Islamic religious norms, local cultural practices, and formal legal structures in the province.

• Developing nuanced and comparative understandings of contemporary issues of Shari’a implementation in other Muslim societies.

http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/article_view.asp?id=275

Research examplesIslam in contemporary SE Asia

SOAS, Department of Anthropology, Dr Kostas Retsikas

Cultivating Generosity: Islam, the ‘Gift Market’ and the Middle-Class in Indonesia

• Focuses on the renewed emphasis that zakat and other voluntary donations have assumed among middle class Muslims in Java,

• The novel institutional forms that have arisen for their collection, management, and distribution in lieu with a series of neo-liberal economic reforms.

• Plurality of the ways Islamic forms of charity are conceptualised and enacted

http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff31704.php

Research examples: Historical

Association of Southeast Asian Scholars UK and British Institute at Ankara

Islam, Trade and Politics across the Indian Ocean• Investigate links between the lands of the Ottoman Empire and

early Republican Turkey and the Muslim peoples of South East Asia on the other over the 16th to 20th centuries.

• The project is interested in all forms of interaction between these two regions, including exchanges and mutual influences in material culture.

• The memory of contacts with the Ottomans is preserved in Malay literature.

http://www.ottomansoutheastasia.org/

Where are Indonesian & Malay taught?• Taught in circa 29 countries? (1995 figures) but…• Only SOAS in the UK – used to be provision at Hull• Only Leiden in the Netherlands – centralisation of

provision in Leiden considered a failure, though LSP (business) in Amsterdam

• More than 10 state funded universities in Germany offer Indonesian – diversity of provision a strength

• 15 universities in Australia offer autonomous Indonesian courses but with a marked reduction in numbers and department closures (6 since 2004)

• Around 12 universities in the USA teach Indonesian – low numbers but high calibre students

Where are Indonesian & Malay taught?

New courses in Indonesian/Malay recently established in e.g. Azerbaijan, Poland, Uzbekistan

“There are reportedly now more students studying Malay/Indonesian in Azerbaijan than in the UK or the Netherlands. More applications are received for Indonesian government scholarships from Poland than from the USA or Australia”Professor Arndt Graf at the National Colloquium on the Future of Indonesian in Australian Universities, Murdoch University, 9 February 2011, quoted in David T Hill, Indonesian Language in Australian Universities Strategies for a Stronger Future. National Teaching Fellowship Final Report, Murdoch University, Perth, February 2012 http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/public-submissions/Prof-David-Hill-Murdoch-Uni.pdf (accessed 19.3.12)

Teaching resources

“Germany exemplifies the contribution good curriculum materials can make to language teaching. It also illustrates the importance of supporting scholarship and good conditions for publishing”

“The US has held a pre-eminent position in Indonesian language teaching as a result of a single set of outstanding set of curriculum materials produced by Cornell University”

Read, J.E. Innovation in Indonesian Language Teaching: an evaluation of the TIFL tertiary curriculum materials, PhD thesis, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong 2002 http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/335/ (accessed 19.3.12)

Teaching resources

“The incorporation of innovative TIFL materials into classroom teaching is regarded as one factor stimulating demand for Indonesian during the 1990s. While some TIFL components remain useful, the development of a package of new contemporary materials, employing the full repertoire of technologies now available, would be extremely valuable and timely”

David T Hill, Indonesian Language in Australian Universities Strategies for a Stronger Future. National Teaching Fellowship Final Report, Murdoch University, Perth, February 2012 http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/public-submissions/Prof-David-Hill-Murdoch-Uni.pdf (accessed 19.3.12)

Challenges• Limited access to the study of Indonesian/Malay and

other SE Asian languages, especially to advanced level• Lack of adequate resource for teaching SE Asian

languages generally and that support the study of SE Asian Islamic Cultures specifically

• Need for other languages and expertise e.g. Arabic, Islamic Studies

• Perception of SE Asian Islam as ‘syncretic’ and ‘local’• Addressing definition of Islamic orthodoxy and the

question of what is local and what is universal in Islam• Promoting the relevance and increased influence of

SE Asian Islam in global context

The study of SE Asia and Islam at SOASBA/MA Islamic Studies

http://www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/baislamicstd/ http://www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/maislstud/

MA Islamic Societies and Cultures http://www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/maislsoccult/

BA/MA Comparative Study of Islam: Anthropological Perspectives http://www.soas.ac.uk/courseunits/151802068.html

Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia 1760s-1960shttp://www.soas.ac.uk/courseunits/154800212.html

Islam and Democracy http://www.soas.ac.uk/courseunits/153400065.html

Asia Society: Islam in SE AsiaInteractive website with teaching materials, lesson plans, and

a variety of resources for use in schools and colleges

http://sites.asiasociety.org/education/islam_in_seasia/index.htm