Analysing the spectrum of female education leaders’ agency in Islamic boarding schools in post-conflict Aceh, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Our research responds to a limited understanding of the agency of female leaders in a context of Islamic politics and society, in post-war and post-tsunami Aceh province in Indonesia. Drawing on empirical ethnographic data, we aim to provide a more nuanced perspective on the ‘strategic space for manouevre’ of women’s agency in Islamic boarding schools in Aceh. Our paper focuses on female educational leaders and teachers at female dayah, or Islamic boarding schools [for girls] in Aceh. The study explores the grassroots roles and motivations of female education leaders, and analyses how a range of contextual (political, economic, socio-cultural and religious) factors play a role in their sense of agency and engagement in (re)producing or challenging societal inequalities and tensions. These factors include women’s own experiences of the conflict and post-conflict period, the influences from their direct networks and kinship, and their opportunities to participate in ‘outside’ trainings and public life.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious education
• female leadership
• agency
• gender
• Islam
• social transformation

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the support and ‘sisterhood’ of our team members Era Maida and Rizki Affiat for their commitment and support to collecting the fieldwork data. We also thank Faryaal Zamaan for her support with the editing of various versions of the text. This research is part of a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam and the International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, and has benefitted from funding derived from the ‘IS Academie programme’, a partnership between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Amsterdam.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mieke T. A. Lopes Cardozo

Mieke T. A. Lopes Cardozo, Assistant Professor in International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, PO BOX 15629, 1001 NC Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: [email protected].

Eka Srimulyani

Eka Srimulyani, professor of sociology at the Ar-Raniry State Islamic University Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and a researcher at the International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies (ICAIOS). Email: [email protected], and [email protected].