Description

Abstract:
During the February Reading Week, seven undergraduate students visited Bandung and Jakarta in Indonesia to develop a deeper understanding of Islam’s political and social expression. Led by Professor Jacques Bertrand and PhD candidate Alexandre Pelletier, this International Course Module (ICM) aimed specifically at visiting a range of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) and Islamic organizations to understand the motivations behind their missions and the role they play in the broader Islamic community. Students will be presenting reflections and observations on various aspects of the social and political activism of these pesantren and organizations. Among others, they have found that there is a vast diversity of activity and missions associated with these “pesantren”, in part due to the vast diversity and loose structure of the Islamic religion. There are surprisingly tolerant, innovative and creative aspects to several of these “pesantren”, even within conservative Islamic organizations. The ICM group’s reflections offer an important corrective to some of the messages and images of Islam often portrayed in the media.