Women from Traditional Islamic Educational Institutions in Indonesia: Negotiating Public Spaces (AUP - IIAS Publications)

In this insightful book, Eka Srimulyani provides a new look at the role of women in Islamic educational institutions in Indonesia. Women at these traditional schools, called pesantren, play a significant role in the shaping of gender relations in the Indonesian Muslim community, and have not, until recently, garnered as much attention in the academic community as they undoubtedly deserve. This deeply informative study offers a new perspective on why Muslim feminism has found a powerful foothold in Indonesia, and it creates a vivid portrait of the lives of pesantren. Here Eka Srimulyani gives us an insider's view of the littleknown contribution of women to Islamic education. - Susan Blackburn, Monash University[-] - -( ) provides us with a rich history and ethnography of pesantren women. The work is certain to become a classic in the study of Indonesian[-]Islam. - Robert Hefner, Boston University[-] - -( ) the first [book] to provide a view of the life world of women in the East Javanese pesantren ( ) helps us understand why Muslim feminism has found much broader grassroots support in Indonesia than in most other countries. - Martin van Bruinessen, Utrecht University - "The value of this book lies in the richness of its narratives describing the history and private and public lives of the female leaders of traditional Islamic institutions in East Java that have barely been touched before." – The Newsletter #64, 2012 - "This book is well conceived and written, it is[-]convincing through the in-depth analysis of key interviews. Never before has the Indonesian female santri world been exposed so clearly to the public eye in a scientific work. The reader discovers an unexpected world, more open and more dynamic than[-]imagined."–Archipel 85, 2013.