At first glance, the world today looks very different than it did 10,15, or 20 years
ago. Communication is faster and cheaper. Media is cheaper to produce and
distribute. Logistics can be worked out quickly with just a text message. Extreme
religion seems to be on the rise and with it religious violence. It might appear that
the explosion of digital media and communication is related to increases religious
violence, or at the very least has changed its nature. This is an empirical question.
This presentation will explore the contours of potential research on this topic and
the ways in which the digital world has and hasn’t change the way religious ideas,
communities, and learning are constructed and conducted. It will give an overview
of the operationalization of key concepts, key methods, and core theoretical ap-
proaches for such a project.
Biography
Lukens-Bull has written significant works on the Anthropology of Islam. His 1999
theoretical article, “Between Text and Practice: Considerations in the Anthropo-
logical Study of Islam,” Marburg Journal of Religion 4 (2): 10-20, 1999 has been
reprinted and widely cited. Lukens-Bull addressed methodological and ethical is-
sues in his 2007 article “Lost in a Sea of Subjectivity: The Subject Position of
the Researcher in the Anthropology of Islam,” Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of
Muslim Life. 1(2):173-192. His ethnographic research has focused on Islamic ed-
ucation in Indonesia starting with traditional Islamic education in A Peaceful Ji-
had: Negotiating Modernity and Identity in Muslim Java (Palgrave McMillan, 2005),
which examines how this community is engaging globalization through curriculum
revisions. More recently, Lukens-Bull has held a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant
which allowed him to examine Islamic higher education and the debates surround-
ing curriculum shift which in the current political climate leads to accusations of
apostasy and in extreme cases barely veiled death threats. Theoretically, this work
is important in understanding counter-radical discourses within the context of oth-
er Islamic discourse. This was published in 2013 as Islamic Higher Education In
Indonesia: Continuity and Conflict (Palgrave McMillan, 2013).
His current research looks at the history and contemporary practices of GP Ansor,
a youth movement with militia elements associated with Nahdlatul Ulama, the
largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.
Lukens-Bull regularly mentors undergraduates on research projects. Five have
received University of North Florida funding to conduct their research; two have
presented at the American Anthropological Association meetings; and one has
published their research in a venue outside the university.
