The internet subculture of Indonesian face-veiled women

Abstract

The article analyses internet usage by Indonesian face-veiled women ( cadari). Such women desire to return to a true Islam, and are often understood by mainstream Muslims as oppressed. Taking advantage of the freedom of speech that has emerged in Indonesia’s post-authoritarian period, they use media strategically for their own purposes in ways quite different from those motivating the internet habits of mainstream Muslims in Indonesia. The article analyses how the women create and maintain subcultures through the internet. Specifically, it focuses on the mailing list of one group of Salafi women, and a virtual business enterprise run by a cadari. While the existing literature tends to emphasize those aspects of the internet that can contribute to the creation of civil society, the internet has enabled cadari to fashion differing trajectories compatible with their subcultures.