FAH UIN Jakarta holds international seminar

FAH, UIN News Online – Faculty of Adab and Humanities (FAH) UIN Jakarta holds an international seminar entitled “Haunting the Islamist on Social Media: Piety, Satire, and Visual Culture in Indonesia”, Tuesday (10/15/2019), held at FAH theater room, campus III of UIN Jakarta.

Moderated by Maria Ulfa, this seminar presents James B. Hoesterey (Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Emory University, USA) as keynote speaker. Also present in the event, Dean of FAH UIN Jakarta Saiful Umam, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Ida Farida,

Hoesterey in his presentation talk about the way in which people are using social media, especially young people in creating memes or cartoons to show things those includes various scandals in social media platforms

"We will talk about how people use visual culture to tell the people who used Islam for political and financial power that they are actually not as pious as they claimed to be," he said.

He also explained, one example was the case of a charismatic religious preacher after he took a decision to engage in polygamy. According to his female followers, the messages his preached in his sermons were not consistent with his actions.

"After it went viral on social media, their popularity plummeted," said Hoesterey.

In addition, he also explained about the political economy of media which often used as a means in fulfilling the interest of its owner and political elites that limit the freedom of journalists to conduct exposes.

For information, James B. Hoesterey is Assistant Professor at the Department of Religion of the Emory University. His research and teaching interests include Islam, popular culture, new media, moral subjectivity, religious biography and religious authority. (usa)