No abstract

In the face of uncertainty, people tend to look for ways to manage discomfort, often through religion. Growing conservatism in the Muslim society in Indonesia has encouraged people to restore meaning when dealing with uncertainties triggered by a crisis. This study aims to explore the dynamics of meaning restoration through hijra, a collective spiritual transformation process. Using a qualitative approach, findings showed that people going through hijra were driven by significance loss and potential significance gain, both taking validation in relational significance and group identity. In Indonesia, where religion is acknowledged as central to identity, religious groups become a prescription sought for closure, and all are directed towards managing uncertainty and restoring significance. The study found that individuals started the hijra journey provoked by either personal significance loss or the need to gain significance and resorted to the collective orientation of relational significance to gain closure. Once a new collective identity is established through the spiritual transformation, significance is restored.

The rising intolerance in Indonesia is spiking and has become more confounding due to the heated political temperature following series of recent national elections. Religious identity is politicized in a magnitude that escalates religious fundamentalism and consequently, intolerance. Past research shown how personal uncertainty enable individuals to find closure through firm beliefs and ideologies. This article is aimed to understand how religious intolerance function as a coping mechanism towards perceived threats of challenged worldviews, and how it potentially strengthened when supported collectively. The paper aim to focus on efforts made in the area of promotion of tolerance and inclusivity, understanding the complexity of identity helps peacebuilding initiatives to manage religious intolerance. The paper will then highlight Project CERITA (Community Empowerment for Raising Inclusivity and Trust through Technology Application), a peacebuilding program initiated by The Habibie Center that conducted storytelling and dialog facilitation workshop in six cities in Indonesia to promote peace and counter religious intolerance.

Deriving from basis of the social identity theory and its development, the research aimed to explore the points of exclusion and how individuals and groups perceived themselves as experiencing victimhood of social injustice. The rise of intolerance in Indonesia was alarming and threatened the diversity and inclusivity of the nation. Throughout several political milestones such as gubernatorial and presidential elections, identity had been used as one of the most efficient ways to segregate and discriminate against people belonging to different groups. Applying a qualitative approach, data were mined from two focus group discussions of university student respondents with various religious and ethnic backgrounds representing the majority and minority groups in Indonesia. Groups sessions were strictly differentiated between majority and minority representatives to minimize the risk of potential conflict. The findings suggest that both groups’ initial perceptions towards members of outgroups are heavily influenced by transferred stereotypes and prejudices from the older generations. While the majority group struggles to counter the prejudices and perceived victimhood through direct exposure, the minority group, on the other hand, takes language into account as a subtle gesture of exclusion.