Robert Hefner

About

Robert Hefner is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He is an anthropologist and comparative historical sociologist who specializes in the study of religion, religion and democracy, citizen belonging, and political ethics and law, including shariah law. Hefner has directed approximately 25 major research projects and organized 19 international conferences on topics such as Muslim politics, shariah law, citizenship, and civic education in Western democratic societies. His recent research themes focus on the politics and ethics of civic-pluralist conflict and co-existence in Muslim-majority societies, as well as social recognition and citizen belonging in Western Europe and the United States. Hefner has published 24 books, both edited and single-authored, and has produced policy reports for the U.S. government and private foundations. His work has been translated into Indonesian, Malay, and Chinese. Hefner has also co-produced films on democracy, plurality, gender, and citizenship in Indonesia with support from the Henry Luce Foundation. He has held numerous academic and research positions worldwide, including visiting scholar roles at institutions such as the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Cambridge, and Gadjah Mada University. Hefner is actively involved in international academic and civil society initiatives, including serving on the…

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Epistemology
• Social Science
• Theology
• Philosophy
• Law
• Political economy
• Law and economics
• History

Selected publications

• Islam and Institutional Religious Freedom in Indonesia

  Religions · 2021 · 42 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  By emphasizing that individual religious freedom depends for its realization on complex social embeddings, the concept of institutional religious freedom provides an important corrective to conventional, individualistic approaches to religious freedom. The concept also helpfully complicates the investigation of religious freedom by encouraging analysts to recognize that different societal and civilizational traditions define religion itself in significantly different ways. Tensions such as these…

  DOI

• Islam and Covenantal Pluralism in Indonesia: A Critical Juncture Analysis

  Routledge eBooks · 2022 · 15 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Muhammadiyah making Indonesia's Islamic moderation based on maqāṣid sharī`ah

  IJTIHAD Jurnal Wacana Hukum Islam dan Kemanusiaan · 2023-06-26 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Muhammadiyah, as an Islamic organization together with Nahdatul Ulama, are two Islamic organizations that oversee Islamic moderation in Indonesia. The role of Muhammadiyah in developing the idea of Islamic moderation has been manifested in educational institutions, social services, almsgiving, and health institutions such as Muhammadiyah hospitals. This research used qualitative methods based on manuscripts from journal articles, books, and interviews with expert narrators as material for analyz…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Islam and Citizenship in Indonesia

  2023-11-18 · 6 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  Islam and Citizenship in Indonesia examines the conditions facilitating democracy, women’s rights, and inclusive citizenship in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country and the third largest democracy in the world. The book shows that Muslim understandings of Islamic traditions and ethics have coevolved with the understanding and practice of democracy and citizen belonging. Following thirty-two years of authoritarian rule, in 1998 this sprawling Southeast Asian country returned to el…

  PublisherDOI

• The 1965–66 Violence in Upland East Java: A Reflexive Reassessment

  Indonesia · 2023-08-01 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract: This essay draws on comparative ethnographic and historical research on the 1965–1966 violence in Indonesia to reassess the course and consequences of the violence in upland areas of the Pasuruan and Malang regencies (kabupaten) in the province of East Java. The essay seeks to reframe and update my earlier analysis of the violence in this territory by juxtaposing it to recent paradigm-changing studies carried out by a new generation of scholars examining the 1965-1966 violence and its…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Donald Pollock

  25 shared

• William Merrill

  25 shared

• Howard Clark Kee

  25 shared

• Charles Keyes

  Space Telescope Science Institute

  25 shared

• David Starr Jordan

  25 shared

• Bruce B. Lawrence

  Duke University

  20 shared

• R. Michael Feener

  20 shared

• Ebrahim Moosa

  University of Notre Dame

  18 shared

Education

• B.A.

  University of Michigan

• M.A.

  University of Michigan

• Ph.D.

  University of Michigan

Awards & honors

• Carnegie Scholar in Islam (2007-2008)
• Lee Kong Chian Fellow in Southeast Asian Studies at the Nati…
• President of the Association for Asian Studies (2009-2010)

Similar researchers at Boston University

• Kevin P. Gallagherh-46
• Henrik Selinh-23
• Jessica Stantonh-23