Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Michelle Miller, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. 

ABSTRACT

In this talk I will focus on the various ways in which Indonesian muslim waria (transgender women) incorporate religion into their everyday lives. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population – over 85 percent of its almost 250 million citizens identifies as Muslim. Islam in Southeast Asia is known as relatively more moderate in character as compared to how it is practiced in much of the Middle East. Yet, in Indonesia more “radical” versions of Islam have made their presence felt since the late nineties, especially surrounding norms of gender and sexuality. The Bali bombings, the implementation of shariah law in parts of Indonesia, and recent anti-pornography laws all exemplify an increased preoccupation with policing gender and sexuality under the guise of “religion” or “culture.” In relation to waria, the positions of prominent Indonesian Islamic organizations vary from viewing waria as mentally ill to issuing fatwas on waria. What does this mean for waria? To what extent does waria religiosity pose a threat to hegemonic Islamic heteronormativity in Indonesia? To what extent do dominant conceptions of Islam challenge warias’ sense of self? I will address these questions by drawing on my current fieldwork on Indonesian transgenders. In particular, I focus on the efforts of ibu Maryani, a recent transgender hajji, in establishing and running the world’s first Islamic boarding school for transgenders in Java. A point of discussion I hope to raise is whether examples of waria religiosity are fruitfully analyzed through the lens of “resistance” or if they might perhaps be better viewed as attempts to “live comfortably.”

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sylvia Tidey is a postdoctoral researcher at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (University of Amsterdam). She is currently conducting fieldwork on male-to-female transgenders (waria) in Indonesia. She is interested in issues of becoming, happiness, and how waria political activism intersects with international LGBT discourses on rights. In previous research, Sylvia focused on corruption, gift-giving, and the state in eastern Indonesian bureaucracy. Articles published on this topic are, among others: Tidey, S. (2012) A divided provincial town: the development from ethnicity based to class-based segmentation in Kupang, West Timor. City and Society 24(3): 302-320.Tidey, S. (2013) Reading the bidding books: corruption and the performance of adherence to rules in the construction sector. American Anthropologist 115(2): 188-202.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you RSVP Mr Jonathan Lee via email: jonathan.lee@nus.edu.sg