An Anthropology of Public Reasoning
Muslims currently struggle to reconcile radically different sets of social norms and laws (including those derived from Islam, as well as contemporary ideas about gender equality and law) in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country. John Bowen explores their struggle through archival and ethnographic research and interviews with national religious and legal figures. His book relates to debates in any society where people struggle to live together with extreme differences in values and lifestyles and is welcomed by scholars and students in all branches of the social sciences.
What follows is an exploration, through ethnography, of how some people have
reasoned about difficult problems of law, religion, and ideals of equality in a
pluralistic society, Indonesia. I examine struggles over how best to apply the legal
traditions and religious norms of Islam to family life. In Indonesia and elsewhere,
disputes over this issue also have been disputes about political allegiance,
religious toleration, and, indeed, the very survival of pluralistic societies. Debates
and ...
