The languages of preaching: Code selection inSundaneseIslamic oratory,WestJava

Abstract

Why do Sundanese Muslims of West Java in certain situations prefer Islamic oratory in their regional language, Sundanese, and in others prefer the national standard, Indonesian? This article answers this question by firstly exploring different preaching outcomes that are recognised and generally accepted by Sundanese Muslims. Some preaching events are oriented preeminently to the communication of affect within the temporal frame of co-presence. In others, preacher and audience unite around a transformative ethos. These outcomes bear contrasting implications for code selection. Where the first outcome is desired, preachers display multivocal, heterogeneous preaching styles in which the regional language offers functional benefits. In the second, Indonesian preachers and audiences respond to the national language's indexing of transformation. The social value of transformation is a situational factor for which Indonesian is the appropriate code. In this way, code selection signals the diversity of ways of being Islamic in the West Javanese public sphere.Please send correspondence to Julian Millie: Julian.Millie@monash.edu NOTES 1 The range of competencies to be observed among Indonesia's Islamic preachers is very wide.Many preachers self-present in the conventional roles of Islamic specialisation, such as kyai (leader of religious schools) or ustad (Qur'anic teacher), but the class of preacher includes also child

Development of Islamic Society Based on <i>Majelis Ta&rsquo;lim</i>: A Study of the Shifting Role of the <i>Majelis Ta&rsquo;lim</i> in West Java

“…Julian Millie, for example, a lecturer and researcher from Monash University in Australia who specializes in Islamic Da'wah in West Java, has undertaken extensive research on the dynamic existence of the Majelis Ta'lim. His research findings on the Majelis Ta'lim in West Java include "Islamic preaching and women's spectatorship in West Java" (Millie, 2011) and "The Languages of Preaching: Code Selection in Sundanese Islamic Oratory", West Java (Millie, 2012).…”