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The preparation for publication of a book examining Salafist (revivalist) Islamic movements in Southeast Asia. (36 months)

Salafism is a revivalist current in Sunni Islam that seeks to establish its visions of the Islam of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions as religious, social and political realities. Salafism is the driving force behind movements ranging from al Qaeda to quietist groups living in social isolation. The term Salafi is politicized and contested in academic, Muslim, and policy discourse. We seek to clarify this discourse through a focus on Southeast Asia, a region that contains the most populous Muslim country in the world and where Salafism is enormously influential. Through a combination of historical and ethnographic methods, we will produce the first comprehensive and comparative study of Salafism as a regional Southeast Asian discourse system. By examining the emergence of ideologies and theologies that stress the global nature of religious identities while denying the salience of culture, we will also deepen understanding of the global dynamics of religiously-inflected conflict.