Conférence : Nancy J. Smith-Hefner — CASE, Paris, 10h-12h, 07/11/2013

Conférence présentée dans le cadre du Séminaire général du CASE animé par par Andrée Feillard et Rémy Madinier.

Le 07 novembre 2013 de 10h à 12h, Salon du premier étage,
Maison de l’Asie, 22 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75016 Paris
(M° Iéna ou Trocadéro)

Prof. Nancy J. Smith-Hefner, Boston University
The Pleasure of Courtship after Marriage: Marriage and Muslim Subjectivities among Javanese Youth

This paper considers the rise of more political and normative forms of Islam as they have impacted patterns of courtship and especially marriage among Muslim Javanese.  A critical factor in these developments has been the increased interest in Muslim discourses and normative ideals made possible via new forms of media and the pluralization of religious authority (Eickelman and Piscatori 1996).  While subjectivities are by no means product solely of norms and discourses, norms and discourses nonetheless play a role by providing possible “blueprints” or “templates” for self-actualization (Foucault 1998, Mahmood 2005).  This is particularly true with regard to Islamist or “strict constructionist” approaches to Islam, which draw heavily on authoritative texts like the Qur’an and Hadith as sources of legitimization and promote the example of the Prophet as the proper model for contemporary youth.

In considering the impact of scripturally-based “Islamist” discourses on youth subjectivities, I focus in particular on new forms of marriage and courtship that involve arrangements made by Muslim religious authorities or proselytization (dakwah) groups, the restriction of premarital familiarization, and the acceptance of a conception of desire radically opposed to popular images of love and romance available to young people in sinetron, movies, advertisements, and romance novels.  Using the Islamist model presented in Salim A. Fillah’s popular guidebook for youth Nikmatnya Pacaran Setelah Pernikahan (The Delight of Courtship After Marriage 2009) as an influential example of this view, I trace both the attraction and the ambivalences of its realization in the life experiences of contemporary Javanese youth.

Légende de l’image : Muslim wedding couple. Cliché de Nancy J. Smith-Hefner