Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia: Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture

What does it mean to be a modern Muslim today? In contemporary discourse Islam and modernity are often presented as each other’s opposites in media and popular culture.

Southeast Asia has a large Muslim population, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, but Islamic culture in these states is conspicuously absent from the wider global discourse on Islam. With a focus on popular culture in Indonesia - a country that houses the world’s largest Muslim population and that is also undergoing modernisation -Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia will demonstrate how Islamic modernities are being negotiated and constructed through popular and visual culture from a trans-regional perspective. Looking at a variety of Islamic-themed popular and visual culture including rock music, cinema, art, visual decorations in shopping malls, self-help books, and fashion blogs, the book explores how Islamic modernities are imagined, negotiated, contested, and shared in Southeast Asia.