International Quarterly for Asian Studies
type: channel
description: IQAS - International Quarterly for Asian Studies – has been Germany's leading academic journal on Asia since 1970. It provides a forum for multidisciplinary research on current and historical topics relevant to politics, economics and society in contemporary Asia. It seeks to make the results of social science research on Asia known to a broader public discourse about Asia. The contributions are intended for a public that is aware that the regions and cultures of the world have always been interlinked and, thus, need to be understood in relation to one another. The journal appears quarterly or semi-anunally as a double issue both in a print and an open access version. IQAS continues Internationales Asienforum.
publisher: Arnold Bergstraesser Institute
language: en
publication name: International Quarterly for Asian Studies
issn: 2566-686X
items: Afghan Women Activist Stories: Part II: Courage and Resistance – Voices from Afghanistan
items: Still Reclaiming Voice – Afghan Women’s Knowledge Production under Repression
items: Syed Irfan Ashraf: The Dark Side of News Fixing: The Culture and Political Economy of Global Media in Pakistan and Afghanistan
items: Sanaa Alimia: Refugee Cities: How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan
items: Hassan Abbas: The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan after the Americans Left
items: Knowledge Production in the Australian Afghan Diaspora – The Role of Women in Sustaining Afghan Identity
items: Phoebe Zoe Maria U. Sanchez / Regletto Aldrich D. Imbong / Matthew Ming Tak Chew / Caroline M. Schöpf (eds): The Palgrave Handbook on Decoloniality in Asia
items: Resonating Voices: Afghan Women as Broadcasters and Radio Producers in the 1960s and 1970s. The Careers of Farīda Usmān Anwarī and Anīsa Latīf Durrānī
items: Afghan Women Activist Stories
items: Reclaiming Voice – Afghan Women and the Politics of Knowledge Production
items: Witnessing through Verse: Afghan Women’s Poetics of Resilience
items: Syafiq Hasyim: The Shariatisation of Indonesia: The Politics of the Council of Indonesian Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI)
items: Liz Przybylski: Hybrid Ethnography: Online, Offline, and In Between
items: Bryan C. Clift / Ioannis Costas Batlle / Sheree Becker / Katharina Chudzikowsi (eds): Qualitative Researcher Vulnerability. Negotiating, Experiencing and Embracing
items: Fiction and Fracture: Literary Tropes and the Representation of Afghan Women
items: Researching Asia in Pandemic Times – the Triple Crunch of Early Career Researchers: Navigating Changing Research Designs, Funding Issues and Ethics of Care
items: Researching Asia in Pandemic Times
items: Vineeta Sinha: Temple Tracks. Labour, Piety, and Railway Construction in Asia
items: Faiza Muhammad Din: Female Madrasas in Pakistan: Religious, Cultural and Pedagogical Dimensions
items: Sukhadeo Thorat / S. Madheswaran / B. P. Vani: Scheduled Castes in the Indian Labour Market: Employment Discrimination and Its Impact on Poverty
items: Sylvia Mayasari-Hoffert: The Cold War and its Legacy in Indonesia: Literary Representation of the Red Scare
items: Diego Javier Luis: The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History
items: Sabine Frühstück: Gender and Sexuality in Modern Japan
items: Rüdiger Lohlker / Katharina Ivanyi (eds): Humanitarian Islam: Reflecting on an Islamic Concept
items: Tim Lindsey / Jamhari Makruf / Helen Pausacker (eds): Islam, Education and Radicalism in Indonesia: Instructing Piety
items: Charlotte Setijadi: Memories of Unbelonging: Ethnic Chinese Identity Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia
items: Marcus Mietzner: The Coalitions Presidents Make: Presidential Power and Its Limits in Democratic Indonesia
items: Legal Changes during Joko Widodo’s Administration – Backsliding of Democracy?
items: False Hope and Broken Promises: Jokowi’s Human Rights Agenda – A Commentary
items: Politics of Marginalisation in Indonesia: The Jokowi Era

Afghan Women Activist Stories: Part II: Courage and Resistance – Voices from Afghanistan
type: item
description: Focusing on lived experience under Taliban rule, this section of the IQAS special issue presents first-person activist narratives by Afghan women who continue to live and work inside Afghanistan. Based on sustained engagement and repeated field visits since 2024, the section brings together accounts by women involved in development, humanitarian, and community initiatives, offering grounded insights into how they navigate intensifying restrictions in their everyday lives. Emerging from a series of face-to-face and online conversations, these contributions were authored in Dari or English and edited with close attention to preserving each author’s voice. The narratives foreground forms of agency that persist in highly constrained settings. They highlight the importance of family support, horizontal women’s networks, and male allyship in sustaining women’s educational and professional trajectories, as well as the ethical, emotional, and relational labour required to continue working under conditions of gendered repression. Taken together, these accounts challenge representations that cast Afghan women solely as victims. Instead, they document how a new generation of women activists continues to think, strategise, and act within the limits imposed upon them, sustaining hopes and ambitions that extend beyond their own lives and offering a powerful testament to courage, endurance, and collective possibility.
subject: Current Debate
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: women activists
  topic: keywords
subject: storytelling
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: women's rights
  topic: keywords
subject: Current Debate
  topic: keywords
creator: Susanne Schmeidl
creator: Raya Balki
creator: Roqia Noor
creator: Zindagi Noor
creator: Malan Karlani
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Susanne Schmeidl, Raya Balki, Roqia Noor, Zindagi Noor, Malan Karlani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-22
publication date: 2025-12-22
starting page: 131
ending page: 142
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.2.28583

Still Reclaiming Voice – Afghan Women’s Knowledge Production under Repression
type: item
description: This second part of the IQAS special issue "Reclaiming Voice – Afghan Women and the Politics of Knowledge Production" continues to foreground Afghan women as producers of knowledge rather than as objects of study. It highlights the persistent and intensified efforts to erase women from public, political, and intellectual life under the Taliban’s rule, while documenting the creative, scholarly, and activist responses that contest these restrictions. Contributions include first-person narratives from women activists and organisational leaders, analyses of documentary film and media representation, and explorations of literary, legal, and artistic forms of knowledge production. Across these texts, a central argument emerges: recognising Afghan women’s agency requires taking seriously their intellectual and political labour, strategies, and resistance, rather than reducing them to victims. By centring Afghan women’s voices in multiple genres, languages, and disciplinary perspectives, this special issue asserts the urgency and indispensability of their knowledge for understanding Afghanistan’s present and imagining its future.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan women
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: feminist epistemology
  topic: keywords
subject: decolonising knowledge
  topic: keywords
subject: politics of representation
  topic: keywords
subject: Editorial
  topic: keywords
creator: Susanne Schmeidl
creator: Morwari Zafar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Susanne Schmeidl, Morwari Zafar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-22
publication date: 2025-12-22
starting page: 123
ending page: 129
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.2.28581

Syed Irfan Ashraf: The Dark Side of News Fixing: The Culture and Political Economy of Global Media in Pakistan and Afghanistan
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Nasema Zeerak
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Nasema Zeerak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 113
ending page: 116
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28572

Sanaa Alimia: Refugee Cities: How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Shulagna Pal
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Shulagna Pal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 109
ending page: 113
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28571

Hassan Abbas: The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan after the Americans Left
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Mujib Abid
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mujib Abid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 106
ending page: 109
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28570

Knowledge Production in the Australian Afghan Diaspora – The Role of Women in Sustaining Afghan Identity
type: item
description: This paper documents the experiences of women from Afghanistan and the ways they cultivate identity and knowledge in a diasporic context. Sensemaking practices occur within a dismantled Afghan society ruptured by war, displacement and a Western environment marked by racialised multicultural dynamics. Women’s roles have been affected in acute ways, with cascading effects on the collective sense of Afghan nationhood, identity and belonging among Afghanistan’s diaspora. The women in this study hold diverse family histories and have lived through different but overlapping political periods, offering a continuum of memories that connect Afghanistan’s history to Australia’s contemporary social and political milieu. The narratives included here highlight the significant role women play as guardians of culture and heritage and show how, despite the many threats to the endurance of Afghan identity, this identity persists – retained and reinterpreted in diverse ways. Everyday cultural practices by women in the diasporic home act as an often overlooked form of knowledge production, informing and transforming memory, language and identity from Afghanistan.
subject: Research Note
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: diaspora
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan women
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan identity
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan Australian
  topic: keywords
subject: home
  topic: keywords
subject: everyday culture
  topic: keywords
creator: Zarlasht Sarwari
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Zarlasht Sarwari https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-24
publication date: 2025-11-24
starting page: 85
ending page: 99
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28569

Phoebe Zoe Maria U. Sanchez / Regletto Aldrich D. Imbong / Matthew Ming Tak Chew / Caroline M. Schöpf (eds): The Palgrave Handbook on Decoloniality in Asia
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: John N. Ponsaran
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 John N. Ponsaran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-14
publication date: 2025-11-14
starting page: 101
ending page: 106
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28567

Resonating Voices: Afghan Women as Broadcasters and Radio Producers in the 1960s and 1970s. The Careers of Farīda Usmān Anwarī and Anīsa Latīf Durrānī
type: item
description: Following the 1964 constitution of Afghanistan, which conferred civil rights that included equal rights for women and freedom of the press, Afghan women capitalised on these opportunities to shape new directions in radio programming. They navigated and negotiated societal constraints to excel as broadcasters and producers, creating widely popular programmes. Their success, driven by diligence and ingenuity, is exemplified by the legacy of radio broadcasting pioneers like Farīda Usmān Anwarī and Anīsa Latīf Durrānī. These women used radio as a form of cultural and artistic resistance, transforming poetry recitation and integrating classical Persianate poetry into their radio shows. This article offers a brief overview of the role of Afghan women in radio broadcasting during the transformative decades of the 1960s and 1970s, highlighting how they navigated emerging media opportunities. In doing so, this study contributes to a broader historical understanding of women’s evolving roles in media and emphasises their agency, innovation and resilience in challenging societal norms.
subject: Special Issue Article
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan women activists
  topic: keywords
subject: radio broadcasting
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: Farīda Usmān Anwarī
  topic: keywords
subject: Anīsa Latīf Durrānī
  topic: keywords
creator: Mejgan Massoumi
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mejgan Massoumi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-08-11
publication date: 2025-08-11
starting page: 65
ending page: 83
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28273

Afghan Women Activist Stories
type: item
description: The co-editor of this special issue, Susanne Schmeidl, here joins two Afghan women in exile: Suraya Pakzad, founder of the Voice of Women Organization and internationally recognised advocate for women’s rights, and Zainab Qadiri, a playwright, theatre director and writer committed to preserving Hazara cultural memory and women’s artistic expression. This Current Debate section presents two autoethnographic narratives documenting lives shaped by activism, cultural production and resistance under shifting Afghan political regimes. Suraya Pakzad recounts her trajectory from clandestine home-schooling for girls under the Taliban in the 1990s to leading one of Afghanistan’s largest women-led NGOs. Zainab Qadiri reflects on her path through theatre and literature as tools of advocacy, memory and identity. Both narratives foreground embodied knowledge, feminist praxis and the preservation of voice in the face of exile and systemic silencing, offering powerful insights into Afghan women’s agency and their contributions to knowledge production.
subject: Current Debate
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: women activists
  topic: keywords
subject: storytelling
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: women's rights
  topic: keywords
subject: Current Debate
  topic: keywords
creator: Susanne Schmeidl
creator: Suraya Pakzad
creator: Zainab Qadiri
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Susanne Schmeidl, Suraya Pakzad, Zainab Qadiri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-08-11
publication date: 2025-08-11
starting page: 13
ending page: 19
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28272

Reclaiming Voice – Afghan Women and the Politics of Knowledge Production
type: item
description: This special double edition of IQAS on Afghan Women’s Knowledge Production foregrounds the knowledge, creativity and critical voice of Afghan women. It brings together perspectives from both within and beyond academia, spanning geographies and disciplines, centring women not as subjects of study but as authors, critics and theorists in their own right. In this editorial, co-editors Susanne Schmeidl, a scholar with decades of research and field experience in Afghanistan, and Morwari Zafar, an Afghan-American anthropologist and writer, set the thematic and political frame for the volume. They reflect on the urgency of centring Afghan women’s voices amid escalating restrictions and political erasure since the Taliban’s return to power. Drawing on their own scholarly work, they situate the contributions – ranging from academic articles to personal narratives, poetry and art – within broader debates on decolonising knowledge, feminist epistemology and the ethics of representation.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan women
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: feminist epistemology
  topic: keywords
subject: decolonising knowledge
  topic: keywords
subject: politics of representation
  topic: keywords
subject: Editorial
  topic: keywords
creator: Susanne Schmeidl
creator: Morwari Zafar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Susanne Schmeidl, Morwari Zafar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-08-11
publication date: 2025-08-11
starting page: 5
ending page: 12
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.28271

Witnessing through Verse: Afghan Women’s Poetics of Resilience
type: item
description: This paper challenges prevalent narratives that depict Afghan women solely as oppressed and suppressed individuals by highlighting the narrative of resilience found within the literature produced and refined by women, past and present. It does so through the works of the pre-modern Persian poet Rābiʿah Balkhī, as a source of inspiration and the most well-known and respected poet, alongside the poetry of two modern female poets writing primarily in Persian: Nadia Anjuman and Mahbouba Ibrahimi. The paper examines how these poets, living across different periods, express themselves and reflect on the violence inflicted upon them and others rendered helpless in the face of aggression. By closely analysing their poetry, this paper aims to examine how each poet articulates a distinct response to violence and how their work functions as a form of knowledge production that challenges dominant narratives surrounding Afghan women and their struggles. Through close reading and critical analysis, it aims to shed light on the role of poetry in shaping societal discourse and perceptions, particularly in the context of political aggression and cultural vilification, through the lens of the poetics of witnessing.
subject: Special Issue Article
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: poetry
  topic: keywords
subject: Rābiʿah Balkhī
  topic: keywords
subject: Nadia Anjuman
  topic: keywords
subject: Mahbouba Ibrahimi
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan female poets
  topic: keywords
creator: Parwana Fayyaz
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Parwana Fayyaz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-08-11
publication date: 2025-08-11
starting page: 21
ending page: 41
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.27410

Syafiq Hasyim: The Shariatisation of Indonesia: The Politics of the Council of Indonesian Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI)
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Tim Lindsey
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Tim Lindsey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-03-02
publication date: 2025-03-02
starting page: 566
ending page: 570
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.4.27725

Liz Przybylski: Hybrid Ethnography: Online, Offline, and In Between
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Mehmet Özgün Özkul
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mehmet Özgün Özkul https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-02-14
publication date: 2025-02-14
starting page: 562
ending page: 565
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.4.27686

Bryan C. Clift / Ioannis Costas Batlle / Sheree Becker / Katharina Chudzikowsi (eds): Qualitative Researcher Vulnerability. Negotiating, Experiencing and Embracing
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Muhammad Salman Khan
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Salman Khan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-02-14
publication date: 2025-02-14
starting page: 559
ending page: 562
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.4.27685

Fiction and Fracture: Literary Tropes and the Representation of Afghan Women
type: item
description: For more than two decades, literature on Afghanistan has evolved around a similar axis of the literary imagination. Works of fiction, in particular, consistently convey an Afghan female archetype whose significance is defined by her struggle against the oppressive patriarchal values of Afghan culture and society. From Khaled Hosseini’s storied A Thousand Splendid Suns to Deborah Ellis’s The Breadwinner, Afghan women and girls are closely associated with narratives of war, violence and an equally unforgiving socio-cultural landscape. This article examines the representation of Afghan women in two successful novels of contemporary English-language fiction by Afghan-American authors: Khalid Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl that Broke Her Shell. The analysis intends to unpack the tropes and narratives that have come to embody Afghan femininity in the American imagination. Grounded in literary criticism, the article will discuss a selection of prominent works to analyse the effects of textual nuances, narrative structures and character development in producing a characteristic image of “the Afghan woman”. By identifying recurring tropes, stereotypes and other literary devices, the research aims to contribute to ongoing conversations about the limitations of knowledge production on Afghanistan and its people, particularly as such narratives are drawn into the world of politics and policymaking.
subject: Special Issue Article
  topic: section
subject: Afghanistan
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge production
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghan women
  topic: keywords
subject: literary fiction
  topic: keywords
subject: narratives
  topic: keywords
subject: U.S. perception
  topic: keywords
subject: Khaled Hosseini
  topic: keywords
subject: Nadia Hashimi
  topic: keywords
subject: Afghanistan, knowledge production, Afghan women, literary fiction, narratives, U.S. perception, Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi
  topic: subjects
creator: Morwari Zafar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Morwari Zafar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-08-11
publication date: 2025-08-11
starting page: 43
ending page: 63
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2025.1.27412

Researching Asia in Pandemic Times – the Triple Crunch of Early Career Researchers: Navigating Changing Research Designs, Funding Issues and Ethics of Care
type: item
description: The following Current Debate section documents a fishbowl discussion held in a hybrid format during the Summer Term of 2022 as part of an MA class on "Digital Research Methods Beyond Pandemic Times," organised by Andrea Fleschenberg in collaboration with Muhammad Salman Khan. The conversation brings together early-career researchers – specifically, PhD students from the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – who reflect on and discuss their concrete experiences, obstacles, challenges, and opportunities encountered while conducting PhD research during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and Asia. These conversations, an integral part of the MA class, were designed as an interdisciplinary, interactive, and participatory learning and reflection space for exploring approaches to research methods and research ethics in online, hybrid, and offline contexts.
subject: Current Debate
  topic: section
subject: Asian Studies
  topic: keywords
subject: fishbowl discussion
  topic: keywords
subject: early career researchers
  topic: keywords
subject: research methods
  topic: keywords
subject: COVID-19 pandemic
  topic: keywords
subject: post-pandemic research
  topic: keywords
creator: Andrea Fleschenberg
creator: Amanda Oliveira
creator: Abdullah Athayi
creator: Laurent Glattli
creator: Esra Sözalmaz Tiryaki
creator: Mateeullah Tareen
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Andrea Fleschenberg, Amanda Oliveira, Abdullah Athayi, Laurent Glattli, Esra Sözalmaz Tiryaki, Mateeullah Tareen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 453
ending page: 465
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.4.27425

Researching Asia in Pandemic Times
type: item
description: This editorial introduces the special issue "Researching Asia in Pandemic Times," which reflects on the impact of digital transformation on academic research during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to online and digital research methods, presenting researchers with both opportunities and challenges. These included ethical dilemmas, methodological adaptations, and structural inequalities amplified by the reliance on technology. Early career researchers, particularly those navigating disrupted fieldwork, played a central role in exploring these dynamics, contributing valuable insights into the interplay between online and offline research spaces. The articles in this issue document grounded experiences from diverse contexts in Asia, examining topics such as digital inequalities, research ethics, and methodological shifts. They critically explore how digital tools reshape data collection, relationships with research participants, and power structures, while raising pressing questions about the location of "the field" and the implications of online methods in volatile contexts. The contributions presented in this special issue underscore the urgency of developing ethically sound and adaptable research approaches in an increasingly digital academic landscape.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Editorial
  topic: keywords
subject: digital ethnography
  topic: keywords
subject: COVID-19 pandemic
  topic: keywords
subject: research ethics
  topic: keywords
subject: hybrid methodologies
  topic: keywords
subject: online / offline fieldwork
  topic: keywords
creator: Sarah Holz
creator: Andrea Fleschenberg
creator: Wikke Jansen
creator: Muhammad Salman Khan
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Sarah Holz, Andrea Fleschenberg, Wikke Jansen, Muhammad Salman Khan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 433
ending page: 451
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.4.27424

Vineeta Sinha: Temple Tracks. Labour, Piety, and Railway Construction in Asia
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-16
publication date: 2024-12-16
starting page: 423
ending page: 426
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.3.27408

Faiza Muhammad Din: Female Madrasas in Pakistan: Religious, Cultural and Pedagogical Dimensions
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Abida Bano
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Abida Bano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-16
publication date: 2024-12-16
starting page: 416
ending page: 418
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.3.27407

Sukhadeo Thorat / S. Madheswaran / B. P. Vani: Scheduled Castes in the Indian Labour Market: Employment Discrimination and Its Impact on Poverty
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Sumeet Mhaskar
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Sumeet Mhaskar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-16
publication date: 2024-12-16
starting page: 413
ending page: 415
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.3.27406

Sylvia Mayasari-Hoffert: The Cold War and its Legacy in Indonesia: Literary Representation of the Red Scare
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Grace Leksana
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Grace Leksana https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-16
publication date: 2024-12-16
starting page: 418
ending page: 422
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.3.27405

Diego Javier Luis: The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Kaori Mizukami
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Kaori Mizukami https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-16
publication date: 2024-12-16
starting page: 411
ending page: 413
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.3.27404

Sabine Frühstück: Gender and Sexuality in Modern Japan
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: An Huy Tran
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 An Huy Tran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 301
ending page: 303
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27212

Rüdiger Lohlker / Katharina Ivanyi (eds): Humanitarian Islam: Reflecting on an Islamic Concept
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Hilman Latief
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Hilman Latief https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 298
ending page: 301
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27211

Tim Lindsey / Jamhari Makruf / Helen Pausacker (eds): Islam, Education and Radicalism in Indonesia: Instructing Piety
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Dissa Paputungan-Engelhardt
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Dissa Paputungan-Engelhardt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 294
ending page: 298
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27210

Charlotte Setijadi: Memories of Unbelonging: Ethnic Chinese Identity Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Silvia Mayasari-Hoffert
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Silvia Mayasari-Hoffert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 291
ending page: 293
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27209

Marcus Mietzner: The Coalitions Presidents Make: Presidential Power and Its Limits in Democratic Indonesia
type: item
subject: Book Review
  topic: section
creator: Aditya Perdana
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Aditya Perdana https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 289
ending page: 291
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27208

Legal Changes during Joko Widodo’s Administration – Backsliding of Democracy?
type: item
description: This paper provides an overview of the legislative landscape and its background under the Joko Widodo administration (2014–2024). The transition of presidential power from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Joko Widodo marked the consolidation of democracy in post-authoritarian Indonesia, continuing from the pivotal reforms of 1998. The period of Widodo’s administration from 2014 to 2024 illustrates how free elections and freedom of expression, combined with advancements in IT technology, have inadvertently highlighted societal divisions, including discrimination against minorities. Beyond political evolution, the period has also witnessed emerging economic disparities within Indonesian society, as well as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic during the latter half of the period. This paper focuses on major legislative initiatives during the Joko Widodo administration. It systematically examines the background, contents and pivotal discussions of these significant pieces of legislation, providing a comprehensive analysis of the legislative developments during this crucial decade in Indonesia. It goes on to argue that the legislative policies of the Widodo administration reflect a situation where the transition from authoritarianism to democratisation falls short of fully embodying constitutionalism, characterised by limits on executive power and respect for human rights.
subject: Research Note
  topic: section
subject: Indonesia
  topic: keywords
subject: Joko Widodo government
  topic: keywords
subject: law and democracy
  topic: keywords
subject: legislative policy
  topic: keywords
subject: law and human rights
  topic: keywords
subject: democratic backsliding
  topic: keywords
subject: Omnibus Law
  topic: keywords
creator: Shimada Yuzuru
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Shimada Yuzuru https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 269
ending page: 287
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27207

False Hope and Broken Promises: Jokowi’s Human Rights Agenda – A Commentary
type: item
description: Usman Hamid is the Chairperson of the Public Virtue Institute and Director of Amnesty International Indonesia. He is also a lecturer at the Indonesia Jentera School of Law, a human rights lawyer, and a member of the expert council at the Indonesian Bar Association (PERADI-RBA). In 1998, as a student activist at Trisakti University, he became involved in protests that contributed to the fall of the Suharto regime. He subsequently became the coordinator of KontraS, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence. In 2004, he was appointed to the Presidential Fact-Finding Team that investigated the murder of prominent human rights defender Munir Said Thalib. In 2011, he was appointed to the Presidential Unit for the Supervision of Development, where he reviewed Indonesia’s National Human Rights Action Plan for 2011–2014. This commentary reflects on the unmet expectations of human rights improvements during President Jokowi's two terms in Indonesia. Written from his perspective of a long-time human rights activist, Usman Hamid critiques Jokowi's failure to address key human rights issues, including past violations, minority protections, and civil liberties, despite Jokowis early promises. The author combines personal experiences with an analysis of Jokowi's political compromises and their impact on Indonesia's declining human rights landscape.
subject: Current Debate
  topic: section
creator: Usman Hamid
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Usman Hamid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 155
ending page: 172
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27206

Politics of Marginalisation in Indonesia: The Jokowi Era
type: item
description: This special issue critically examines the socio-political and economic impacts of the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) government (2014–2024) on marginalised communities in Indonesia, focusing on the intersection of government policies and local struggles. Despite economic growth, Indonesia has experienced democratic backsliding, characterised by oligarchic influence, weakened institutions, and rising corruption. These challenges have exacerbated the marginalisation of vulnerable groups, particularly in rural and indigenous areas, where top-down development projects have deepened social inequality, land disputes, and environmental degradation. However, the issue also highlights grassroots resistance, with communities engaging in "everyday resistance" and "politics of marginality" to challenge these policies. Case studies include struggles over land in Flores, political-economic turmoil in West Papua, and the challenges faced by rural social movements and people with disabilities. The editorial critiques Jokowi’s developmental policies, questioning their social and ecological consequences while pointing to the resilience of local communities as a crucial counterbalance to elite-driven politics. It calls for further research into these dynamics as Indonesia pursues its "Golden Indonesia 2045" vision.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Indonesia
  topic: keywords
subject: Jokowi government
  topic: keywords
subject: marginalisation
  topic: keywords
subject: democratic backsliding
  topic: keywords
subject: social inequality
  topic: keywords
subject: environmental degradation
  topic: keywords
subject: Editorial
  topic: keywords
creator: Amanda tho Seeth
creator: Jafar Suryomenggolo
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Amanda tho Seeth, Jafar Suryomenggolo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-25
publication date: 2024-09-25
starting page: 137
ending page: 153
doi: 10.11588/iqas.2024.2.27205