Divorce Narratives and Class Inequalities in Indonesia

Rinaldo, R., Nisa, E. F., & Nurmila, N. (2024). Divorce Narratives and Class Inequalities in Indonesia. Journal of Family Issues45(5), 1195-1216. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X231155657

 

 

 

 

Abstract

In the past 20 years, divorce has increased in Indonesia. Indonesian statistics show that divorces initiated by women exceed those by men. One issue that is often neglected is how socioeconomic differences also play a role in this matter. Drawing on our collaborative research on Muslim divorces in Indonesia, this paper focuses on the interplay between divorce strategies and socioeconomic differences among Muslim couples. Our in-depth interviews with 93 Muslim men and women and 19 judges from Islamic courts show that class differences shape distinctive dynamics of divorce among Muslim Indonesians. Couples from less educated, lower-income backgrounds accept marriage dissolution more easily, with women becoming much less tolerant of men’s behaviors such as infliction of domestic violence, infidelity, and failure to provide financial support. Educated, middle-class urban couples divorce for similar reasons but tend to experience a lengthier process accompanied by complex layers of conflict. Many educated women’s narratives emphasize their ability to support themselves through working, and a desire to be free of a bad marriage at any cost. Class and education thus contribute to significant differences in the experience and trajectories of divorce in Indonesia.

Quantitative Analysis and Advanced Statistics

This course aims to provide an overview of quantitative research methods and the advance statistics that often encounter within educational study. This course gives opportunity for students to understand and use more sophisticated statistical techniques to formulate and test research hypotheses, conduct rigorous data analysis up to interpret and disseminate the findings as well as evaluate the existing quantitative research.


Graduate Seminar in Educational Research

This course is designed as a foundation for postgraduate students to beginning their PhD in Education at UIII. The aim of this course is to provide students with the concepts and approaches in formulating educational research, including identifying research interests, research questions, and selecting appropriate research methods (quantitative and qualitative) through oral and written modes of communication. The course will also discuss various research issues in educational settings. Numerous careers are designed within this course, such as researcher, educator, and policy analyst.


Wasathiyatul Islam in the Globalized World

In this course, students learn various concepts and practices of wasatiyya as introduced by scholars and practiced within Indonesian societies. Students are trained to become familiar with wasatiyya conceptually from the Qur’an, Hadis and contemporary Islamic thinkers, as well as from experiences in Indonesia as exposed and managed by civil society exponents and the state. At the end of the lecture, students are expected to have in-depth knowledge of various concepts and practices of wasatiyya in contemporary Indonesia. The teaching method used includes lecture, presentations, discussions, and assignments (paper writing), all of which are summarized in class seminar activities.


Advanced Islamic Education

The course aims to introduce students to critically explore diverse interpretations of ‘Islamic Education’ and examine historical, theological and
philosophical aspects of classical and modern Muslim educational thought, practice and institutions. Students will be introduced to the concept of ‘critical, contextual, plural and transformative Islamic Education’ through discussing diverse perceptions and scholarly approaches to define the subject. Students will have the opportunity of engaging critically with the Muslim educational/pedagogical legacy and explore how it shaped the formation of classical Islamic scientific and scholarly traditions. The course provides a reflective insight into the sources and origins of Islamic educational thought with special reference to perceptions of education in the Qur’an, prophetic traditions and the wider Muslim intellectual heritage. The role of knowledge(ilm) and knowledge bearers (ulama) in expressing Islamic civility within ethnically, culturally plural and gendered social spaces.
The course will specifically examine the traditions of Islamic Education, their historical formation and contemporary articulations within the
context of majority/minority Muslim societies in Global Southeast Asia. Students will assess existing national Islamic Education policies (
construction of curriculum, textbooks, pedagogy and teacher education systems) regarding mainstream as well as Islamic higher education
institutions. They will further discuss the educational challenges facing global Muslim communities with a special reference to understanding the process of educational change and its relationship with the wider sociopolitical reform initiatives. The course will critically examine how best to develop appropriate Islamic educational strategies to tackle religious extremism and address issues concerning the faith development of Muslim young people in the modern world.
The emphasis will be on the importance of contemporary educational research into Islamic Education, especially research springing from the
Social Sciences and Humanities directed towards philosophy, pedagogy, curriculum and policy related developments in contemporary Islamic
Education. Students will explore empirical and conceptual interdisciplinary research agenda of the field and develop their own specific areas of
research interest in Islamic Education. They will be encouraged to develop their own philosophies of Islamic Education.


Advanced Comparative Philosophy of Education

The purpose of this course is to clarify, deepen, and criticize the main and fundamental issues about education. The discussion covers a broad range of issues, including normative, epistemological, socio-political, and educational ethics. The normative aspect includes an in-depth discussion of the goals, principles, and functions of education, about what should be taught or what should be the content of education, how students should be treated, or about what kind of fair society should be realized through education. The course also discusses epistemological aspects, such as about what valuable knowledge should be developed for students and on what justification it is important for knowledge to be developed for students, about whether in education there is a place for beliefs that are not scientifically robust. Regarding the discussion of the socio-political dimension, for example, whether children/students have rights and if children's rights and parental rights conflict whose rights should be upheld, can children develop autonomy at the same time as being part of a religious or belief community. As for the ethical aspect, for example, regarding what kind of interactions should occur between teacher-leaders, teacher-students, between students, and between parties in educational institutions.

Included in the discussion are topics about the comparative or present traditions of thought from --- but not limited to -- the West, the Muslim world, and from Indonesia. This course will examine, among others, the traditions of Western thought, for example, John Dewey, traditions of Islamic thought, such as al-Ghazali, Fazlur Rahman, Naquib al-Attas, and traditions of Indonesian thought, such as Ki Hajar Dewantara. It is hoped that - after attending lectures - students have thoughts, broad insights about educational patterns and are able to reflect on the educational orientation of the Muslim world, the West, and Indonesia as well as be able to identify, differences and similarities, strengths and weaknesses of the thoughts discussed in the course against current education.


Lunch Talk #28: Understanding Teacher Identity Construction and Its Dynamics

You are invited to join the Lunch Talk #28 at the Faculty of Education, UIII

Satia Prihatni Zen, Ph.D. (Programme Director for institutional partnership at Yayasan Sukma) will share about: “Understanding Teacher Identity Construction and Its Dynamics”.

The talk will discuss the dynamics of teacher identity construction in the context of international teacher education between Indonesia and Finland. Teacher identity has been used as analytical lens in exploring teachers' learning and development. This concept allow researchers to explore different dimensions of teacher learning and development in relation to various aspects in teaching such as motivation, decision making, relationship and others. Teacher identity has also been used to explore how teachers respond to changes in educational context such as new curriculum, technological changes and school reform.

Using this perspective, Dr. Zen will shared insights from her study on Indonesian teachers from Aceh who participated in International teacher program organized by university from Finland. As a unique context, an international program between Indonesia and Finland provide an opportunity to explore the dynamics of teacher identity construction as the impact of learning in diverse contexts. Additionally, Aceh is a post-conflict and post-tsunami context where participants of this study are working and where the program was implemented. This context provides an additional dimension and specific challenges that may be relevant for teacher education in other similarly challenging contexts.

Day/Date: Tuesday/April 23, 2024
Time: 13.00-14.30 WIB
Place: Theater, Faculty A Building

Online participation:
https://bit.ly/LunchTalkEdu28

E-Certificate is provided

Thank you!

Recording on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46OhRtJbkMA&t=636s


Call for Papers Muslim Education Review Journal 2024

 

The Faculty of Education UIII invites you to contribute your work to the Muslim Education Review (MER) editions for December 2024 and June 2025.

📤For templates and author guidline, download here: bit.ly/MERJournalTemplate

📥Submit your paper at journal.uiii.ac.id/index.php/mer or mer.journal@uiii.ac.id

🗓️Deadlines:
May 31, 2024 (for December 2024 publication)
November 30, 2024 (for June 2025 publication)

Please ensure to read the requirements thoroughly.


Lunch Talk #27: Indonesian Higher Education under the Administrative Regime

You are invited to join the Lunch Talk #27 at the Faculty of Education, UIII

Rakhmat Hidayat, Ph.D. (Lecturer at State University of Jakarta) will share about: “Indonesian Higher Education under the Administrative Regime”.

This talk aims to explain the problems and complexities of bureaucratic administration in Indonesian higher education. The dominance of bureaucratic administration in the university governance system put Indonesian academics under the control of the administrative regime. The controversy over the administrative burden relates to the management of academic careers in Indonesia. In addition to having to fulfil a layered role in accordance with the Tri Dharma, academics in Indonesia have to face pressure and administrative burdens such as mandates letter (surat tugas), documentation, and reports. Even long before the latest rules appeared above, lecturers were obliged to upload the documents to many different information systems. However, more than just an administrative burden issue, it also comes from the tradition of government intervention in Indonesian higher education governance. The complexity of the bureaucracy associated with the reloading of faculty performance data is an iceberg phenomenon (fenomena gunung es) of higher education governance problems in Indonesia that is still dominated by government and bureaucratic practices.
On the other hand, in the context of knowledge production, the complexity of bureaucracy and administration in higher education has resulted in procedural and energy-consuming. Administrative processes are often considered more essential than the core of the question and the purpose of knowledge itself. Administrative bureaucracy controls science and academic life. Everything has to be lived with a long and exhausting administration. Science is underneath it. Even the lecturers who were supposed to be free-thinking scientists, must and are accustomed to undergoing complicated non-scientific procedures. Bureaucracy and administration have always held control of research, institutional development, and international networks.

Day/Date: Monday/March 18, 2024
Time: 13.00-14.30 WIB
Place: Theater, Faculty A Building

Online participation:
https://bit.ly/LunchTalkEdu27

E-Certificate is provided

Thank you!

Recording on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff9BAp8MONk&list=PLX82ye7O55cfL5g1bdzTVODu3MbhKUd3e&index=26