Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I am an anthropologist with a specialisation in the political and social meanings of Islamic practice in Indonesia. My major role at Monash is the coordination and teaching of our Indonesian Studies program.
In my research, I have chiefly focussed on the embodied routines of Islamic life in Indonesia. In my view, these are underestimated for their importance in explaining political and social life more generally. My major projects have focussed on: an intercession ritual popular in West Java; Islamic preaching and everyday life; commemoration of sub-national Islamic legacies, and; the distinctive meanings of practice in times of rapid change.
My most recent publication is a working paper written with two great colleagues from UIN Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung: Dede Syarif and Mokh. Fakhruroji. The paper is entitled Islamic preaching and state regulation in Indonesia, and was published by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society (CILIS) at the University of Melbourne. The paper can be downloaded from here: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/cilis
I have strong reasons for wanting to write this paper. While doing previous research on preaching in Indonesia, I had noticed that preachers are generally understood through a fairly narrow frame - the preachers that receive attention outside Indonesia are frequently angry ones that preach intolerance. So, the right people to write about the sensitive topic of regulation should ideally be researchers with a good idea of how preaching is a reality of everyday life that goes way beyond intolerance and conflict. For many Indonesians, preaching is their only and most meaningful engagement with Islam. Hence the three of us set to work on this overview and the associated recommendations.
Apart from that, Indonesia is a very interesting place because its regulatory regime is so liberal. In Brunei and Malaysia, preachers must be certified, and the Friday sermon is centrally prepared. Not so in Indonesia - the state does not attempt either of these things.
Before the working paper, my most recent publication was 'Grave visiting (Ziyara) in Indonesia', which I co-wrote with Lewis Mayo. Lewis and I are very interested in the ways in which the participatory patterns emerging in pilgrimage to sacred sites do not match the general patterns of public religion in Indonesia. Mt Kawi, near Malang in East Java, is visited by Muslims, Christians, followers of Chinese religions, and followers of Javanese spirituality. We trace out the conditions that enable this, and the ways in which partitipation at the site departs from the broader public narrative of religion in Indonesia. Our entry point to this research was the work of Im Yang Tju (Tan Hong Boen), who published an extraordinary work about Gunung Kawi in Chinese in 1953.
My most recent publication (but two) is ‘An Anthropological Approach to the Islamic Turn in Indonesia’s Regional Politics,’ published in TRaNS: Trans –Regional and –National Studies of Southeast Asia 6:2 (2018). This article represents my thinking on how we should understand the relationship between everyday Islamic life and the Shariah regulations that have emerged in Indonesia over the last fifteen or so years. Having spent so much time participating in the routines of everyday Islamic life, I think that relationship is not well understood. I am very grateful to my friends at TRANS for publishing this article. I am very happy to send a PDF of the article to anyone wishing to read it.
Biography
Research area keywords
- Anthropology of Indonesia
- Ritual
- Religion
- Islamic Culture and Society
- Cultures of Indonesian Islam
Network
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IB: Islamic Bureaucracies and Pious Publics in Turkey and Indonesia
Millie, J., Senay, B. & Wang, L. C.
21/02/20 → 19/12/23
Project: Research
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Deliberation and publicness in Indonesia's regional Islamic spheres
Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University
1/02/15 → 31/12/19
Project: Research
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Information consumption and decision making of irregular maritime arrivals
Pickering, S., Barry, J. A., Millie, J. & Tazreiter, C.
Department of Home Affairs (Australia)
11/02/14 → 14/02/15
Project: Research
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Glocalisation and sub-national Islams in Indonesia: neo-traditionalism, local Islam and the commemoration of regional Islamic legacies.
Barton, G., Millie, J. & Moriyama, M.
Australian Research Council (ARC)
30/06/10 → 31/10/16
Project: Research
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Preaching Islam: politics, performers and publics in Indonesia.
Australian Research Council (ARC)
7/04/07 → 31/12/12
Project: Research
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Hagiography in Southeast Asia
Millie, J., 2021, Encyclopaedia of Islam THREE. Fleet, K., Kramer, G., Matringe, D., Nawas, J. & Rowson, E. (eds.). The Netherlands: Brill, 6 p. (Brill Encyclopaedia of Islam THREE).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Encyclopaedia / Dictionary Entry › Other › peer-review
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Men's politics, women's piety: The gendered asymmetry of Indonesia's new public Islams
Millie, J., 2021, In: Australian Journal of Anthropology. p. 135-149 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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Sermons
Millie, J., Dec 2021, The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Callan, H. & Coleman, S. (eds.). USA: John Wiley & Sons, 8 p. (Wiley Online Library).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Encyclopaedia / Dictionary Entry › Other › peer-review
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The true story of cruelty to animals in Indonesia
Millie, J., 15 Dec 2020, 2 p. Acton ACT Australia : The Australian National University.Research output: Other contribution › Other
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Grave visiting (Ziyarah) in Indonesia
Millie, J. & Mayo, L., 2019, Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World. Rahimi, B. & Eshaghi, P. (eds.). Chapel Hill North Carolina USA: University of North Carolina Press, p. 183-204 19 p. (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review