Paper short abstract:

This paper considers the conjunction of pious dispositions and secular feminist values in the practices of Indonesian Muslim women NGO activists. It explores the ethical space of their political action, that draws on norms of justice, compassion, respect, community, integrity and hope.

Paper long abstract:

The title of this paper is drawn from Abu-Lughod's (2013) discussion of the 'social life' of Muslim women's rights. In suggesting that rights have a social life, Abu-Lughod argues that rights only exist in 'social play' (2013, p. 147), that is, in the social interactions and discursive exchanges where the notion of rights gets circulated, played out, transplanted and invoked. As a consequence, she argues, the concept of rights for Muslim women takes on different meanings as it moves through diverse social networks and becomes entangled with various local, state and non-state institutions (see, also, Al-Ali 2000; Badran 2005). Turning to Southeast Asia, Rinaldo (2010) documents how increasing interaction between the fields of Islamic and gender politics in Indonesian public life since the 1990s has shaped Muslim women's agency. As Islam has become a primary source of meaning in the Indonesian public sphere, Rinaldo demonstrates how women have variously mobilized Islam - some arguing for women's empowerment and equality and others to promote a more Islamic nation - thereby transforming global discourses of both Islam and feminism. This paper considers the confluence of religious and secular feminist orientations in the activism of a group of NGO activists in West Kalimantan. In considering the conjunction of pious dispositions and secular feminist values in the practices of these young Muslim women, the paper makes the further call that we consider how women's activism reflects the intersection of ethics and values, on the one hand, and political and socio-economic factors, on the other.