“Religion and Modernity” and Southeast Asia Studies

Abstract

During the past few decades, “religion and modernity” has become a major theme across a wide range of human and social sciences. This theme has been well established among Southeast Asianists in the English-speaking world, but it is not so common among scholars in Japan. How does the theme of religion and modernity matter in general and to Southeast Asian Studies in particular? In pursuing this question, this article draws insights especially from Webb Keane, whose ethnographic studies set in Indonesia have inspired heated discussions within and beyond Southeast Asian Studies. A defining quality of a modern religion is, according to Keane, its repudiation of ritual and insistence on sincerity. Sincerity is a quality required of a modern believer, who needs to understand—as opposed to merely recite—the scripture. While Keane’s work focuses on Christians, the ideal of sincerity has been influential not only to other religions, but also secularist movements. Many of the reform movements of the 20th century led by Muslim and Buddhist modernizers in Southeast Asia can be understood as efforts to incorporate this new ideal. The relationship between these modernist movements and nation-building projects is a rich topic, which can be fruitfully pursued across Southeast Asia.