Julian Millie

I am an anthropologist with a specialisation in the political and social meanings of Islamic practice in Indonesia. In my view, the embodied routines of Islamic life in Indonesia 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 ‘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 relationahip 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.