Morality, religious authority, and the digital edge

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn Indonesian Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), access to digital media is strictly regulated, if allowed at all. Young women students are viewed as particularly susceptible to the perceived moral dangers of uncensored internet content and the unmonitored communication of social media and cell phones. At the same time, digital literacy is seen as integral to social advancement and higher education. Some young women students and recent alumnae successfully cultivate a “digital edge”—the social agility to navigate the moral challenges, scrutiny, and social surveillance they encounter online while adhering to key gender norms. This “digital edge,” paired with religious training, creates new online spaces for young women to claim religious authority over peers and even parents. These microlevel efforts have potential macrolevel effects on the changing landscape of Indonesian Islam. Young women's online practices require an analysis that moves anthropological debates about Islam, women, and morality beyond narrow questions of resistance. [digital media, morality, women, religious authority, education, Islam, Indonesia]