Staff

Dr Minako Sakai Senior Lecturer Indonesian Program Phone: +61 2 6268 8904 Fax: +61 2 6268 8879 Email: m.sakai@adfa.edu.au

Professional Background

I hold a PhD in Social Anthropology from the Australian National University. I am interested in the impact of Islamisation processes in Indonesia. My earlier research is on the community of Gumay in the highlands of South Sumatra where I examined the impact of Islamisation on ritual practice and ethnic identity among the Gumay. My recent work is on the rise of regionalism particularly, transnational Malay Islamic identity politics in Sumatra after the introduction of regional autonomy in Indonesia.  On the theme of regional identity politics, I have edited two books, Beyond Jakarta (2002) and The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Social and Geographical Perspectives (2009). They are collections of case studies on newly galvanised local patronages and power dynamics in regional areas of Indonesia. Another project I am currently undertaking is to investigate various forms of emergent Islamic activism in Indonesia, especially Islamic financial activism and propagation of Islam in urban areas of Indonesia. 

Recent Research Grants

• Capacity Building for the Islamic Microfinance Providers for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia, with Prof. Kacung Marijan, Australia Indonesia Governance Research Partnership ($60,000, 2008)
• Creating a New Indonesia: Region and Religion as Agents of Change, Silver Star Grant, University of New South Wales ($20,000, 2008)

Courses Taught

• Contemporary Muslim Identity
• The Anthropology of the Malay Indonesian Archipelago
• All levels of Indonesian Language and Culture

Consulting / Professional Activities

• I have been serving as the Secretary for the Committee for the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Presidents’ Prize for the Best Asian Studies doctoral thesis in Australian universities since 2007.
• I have conducted consultancy work for the Attorney General’s office on the rise of Islamism in local politics of Indonesia.
• I have been convening the Asia-Pacific Seminar Series at UNSW at ADFA campus

Recent Publications

Edited Volumes
2009 The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Social and Geographical Perspectives, co-edited with J.H. Walker and Glenn Banks, Singapore, NUS Press.
2002 Beyond Jakarta: Regional Autonomy and Local Society in Indonesia. Adelaide, Crawford House Publishing.

Book Chapters and Journal Articles
2009 ‘Reviving Malay Connections in Globalised Southeast Asia’ in Huhua Cao and Elizabeth Morrell (eds), Regional Minorities and Development in East and South East Asia, London and New York, Routledge. (due August 2009).

2009 ‘Becoming a Malay and Looking beyond the Melaka Straits: Sumatran Malay Identity Politics in a Decentralised Indonesia’ in Minako Sakai, J.H. Walker and Glenn Banks (eds), The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Geographical and Social Perspectives, Singapore, NUS Press, pp. 62-83. (due July)

2009 ‘Introduction: The Place of the Periphery’ with Glenn Banks and J. H. Walker in Minako Sakai, J.H. Walker and Glenn Banks (eds), The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Geographical and Social Perspectives, Singapore, NUS Press, pp.1-13. (due July)

2009 ‘From Bukit Seguntang to Lahat: Challenges Facing Gumay Origin Ritual Practice in The Highalnds of South Sumatra’ in Dominik Bonatz, J. David Neidel, John Miksic, Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz (eds), From Distant Tales : Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Highlands of Sumatra, Cambridge Scholars Press (due November)

2008 ‘Harnessing Islamic Microfinance’ with Kacung Marijan, Policy Briefs, No. 9. Australia Indonesia Governance Research Partnership, Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra. http://www.aigrp.anu.edu.au/publications/briefs.php

2008 ‘Assisting Community (umat) Development through Islamic Microfinancing (BMT): Serving the Community Needs in a Viable Way, in Greg Fealy and Sally White (eds), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, ISEAS Press, pp.267-285.

2006 ‘Reconfiguring Regions and Challenging the State? New Socio-Economic Partnerships in the Outer Islands of Indonesia’, with Elizabeth Morrell, in Vickers, Adrian, and Margaret Hanlon (eds). 2006. Asia Reconstructed: Proceedings of the 16th Biennial Conference of the ASAA, 2006, Wollongong, Australia. Canberra: Asian Studies Association of Australia & Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2006/Sakai-M+Morrell-E-ASAA2006.pdf.

2006 ‘Modernisasi Tempat Suci di Sumatera Selatan: Islamisasi Tempat Nenek Moyang Gumai’, in Chamber Loir and Anthony Reid (eds), Kuasa Leluhur: Nenek Moyang, Orang Suci, dan Pahlawan di Indonesia Kontemporer. Medan: Bina Media Perintis. pp. 194-219.

2006 ‘Environment, Overview’, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, Volume 4, Suad Joseph (general editor), Brill Academic Publications. pp. 359-364.

2006 ‘The Origin Structure of Kute among the Gumai: an Analysis of an Indigenous Territorial Institution in the Highlands of South Sumatra’, in Thomas Reuter (ed), Sharing the Earth, Dividing the Land. E Press. The Australian National University. pp. 39-64.

2003 ‘Privatisation of the State-owned Padang Cement Company: Regional Identity and Economic Hegemony in Indonesia’s New Era of Decentralisation’, in Ed Aspinall and Greg Fealy (eds), Local Politics of Indonesia, Singapore: ISEAS Press. pp. 148-163.

2003 ‘Publicising Rituals and Privatising Meanings: Gumai Ritual Practice in South Sumatra’, in Nicola Tannenbaum, and Cornelia Kammerer (eds), Founder’s Cults in Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 159-183.

2003 Resisting the Mainland: The Formation of the Province of Bangka-Belitung (Babel)’, in Damien Kingsbury, Harry Aveling (eds), Autonomy and Disintegration in Indonesia. London: RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 189-200.

2003 ‘Land Dispute Resolution in Political Reform at the Time of Decentralization in Indonesia’ Indonesian Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology, XXVI Special Volume (on-line publication)http://www.jai.or.id/jurnal/2002/sv/03ms_sv.pdf pp. 15-32.

Areas of Potential Postgraduate Supervision:

• Malay-Islamic identity politics
• Islamism
• Islamic economy as social movement
• Local patronage networks in decentralised Indonesia.
• I expect social anthropological approaches and case study methodology essential for a PhD project under my supervision.

Past and Current PhD Supervision

• Jae Bong Park, ‘Preventing Ethnic Violence in Indonesia: Civil Society Engagement in Yogyakarta During the Economic Crisis of 1998’ (PhD Awarded in 2008)
• Dimas Nugroho, ‘Islamic Political Movements and Their Political Contestation in Indonesian institutionalized Democracy’ (Current)
  

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