Yanwar Pribadi

Yanwar Pribadi is professor of Anthropology of Religion at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII). Holding both an MA and a PhD in Islamic Studies and Humanities from Leiden University respectively, and a BA in History from Universitas Padjadjaran Indonesia, he has research interest in contemporary issues of Islam and Muslim societies. He is the author of “Islam, State and Society in Indonesia: Local Politics in Madura” (Routledge, 2018). He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters in, among others, TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, and South East Asia Research. Moreover, he has contributed to an entry in the Encyclopaedia of Islam Three (Brill). He has been a visiting fellow at KITLV, Australian National University, SOAS, Sciences Po Paris, and the Alwaleed Center at the University of Edinburgh.

The project

Title: Islamic Identity Politics in Southeast Asia: Comparing Indonesia and Malaysia

"Complex relationships between Islam and politics that involve on-going processes of democratization, the creation of civil society, and identity politics can be observed in many regions, including Southeast Asia. The region has long been regarded as an area peripheral to Muslim communities compared to the Middle East as the “centre” of Islam, despite the fact that Islam is the region’s most widely-practiced religion, by about 42 percent of the population, with majorities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam. By comparing Indonesia and Malaysia where an overwhelming majority of Southeast Asian Muslims (96 percent) live, the purpose of this seminar is to demonstrate that Islamic identity is employed as an instrument to promote socio-political ideologies that aim to assert group distinctiveness and gain power and recognition."

Hosting Institution(s): École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)

Selective Bibliography

• “Madura”, in Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, Brill, 2019.
• “Polite Citizenship: Everyday Informal Claims-making in Rural West Java, Indonesia”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 178, No. 1: 90-118 (2022)
• “Indonesia’s Islamic Networks in Germany: The Nahdlatul Ulama in Campaigning Islam Nusantara and Enacting Religious Agency”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 42, No. 1 (2022): 136-149
• “Sekolah Islam (Islamic Schools) as Symbols of Indonesia’s Urban Muslim Identity”, TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 10, No. 2 (2022): 203-218 (peer-reviewed journal)
• “The Ultimate Vindication of Honour: Carok, Shame, and Islam in Madura, Indonesia”, in Shame, Modesty, and Honor in Islam, edited by Ayang Utriza Yakin, Adis Duderija, and An van Raemdonck. London: Bloomsbury, 2024: 99-112
• “Preaching in a Muslim-majoity Country: Indonesia’s Experiences with ‘Pengajian’”. PredicMo: Grammars of preaching, 4 September 2025 (main author, with Stéphane Lacroix)