WFU/Indonesia: Religions in Indonesia
Image by Jill Gocher/Getty Images for National Geographic
Location
Indonesia is a vast archipelago located in Southeast Asia made up over 17,000 islands. It has the world’s fourth largest population and is home to the world’s largest population of Muslims. Given its sprawling location and abundant natural resources, Indonesia has a rich history of being an important trade region, bringing a large and diverse foreign influence that has impacted many aspects of its culture, as well as its identity.
Wake Forest University’s Summer Program in Indonesia will provide students an opportunity to explore a complex and diverse multi-cultural country with a focus on the numerous religions that make-up and influence its culture. Students will spend time on the islands of Java and Bali and have the opportunity to explore the complex interaction between religion, culture, and globalization.
Duration
Summer I; late May to late June
Academic Program
REL 200/300: SHAMANS, SHEIKHS & TV STARS: INDONESIAN RELIGIONS IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
This course will introduce students to the central beliefs and practices of the people of Indonesia with a focus on Islam. We will reside at the islands of Java and Bali and study the diverse intersections of world cultures and religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Chinese religions, and local animistic practices. Since Islam is the majority religion of Indonesia, we will study how Muslims have incorporated the various religions and beliefs that were present in Indonesia before Islam was introduced by traders from India, China, and the Middle East. We will study the lives of contemporary Muslims and will thus examine the ways in which Indonesia has developed as a lynch pin in Asian culture and religion at geographic, religious, economic, and political levels. In addition, students will learn about the history of colonial control, independence, political repression, and globalization in Indonesia during the twentieth century and social changes. We will study various local expressions of Islam via literature and by observation during field trips to Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim shrines. Furthermore we will attend Muslim prayer and preaching meetings, visit mystics, and spend time in a Qur’an school.
Excursions/Highlights
Among others, on Java we will make excursions to the famous Buddhist Borobudur temple, the Hindu shrine of Prambanan, and the Sultan’s palace in Yogyakarta. We will join a pilgrimage to the graves of the founders of Islam in Indonesia, attend a religious concert, witness a preacher, visit a mystic, and spend a day at a Qur’an school.
On Bali we will have days to write our reports, spend time on the beach, visit the Tanah Lot temple, and the Monkey Forest in Ubud.
Accommodations
Guesthouses which include most meals.
Costs
The total cost of summer study abroad can be broken down into four categories:
*Program Fee – Usually covers room, in-country travel, excursions, some meals and other costs associated with the program.
*Tuition – Students on WFU summer programs pay WFU summer school tuition per credit hour. The 2012 summer rate is estimated at $860/per credit hour.
*Airfare – Varies per location. Students are responsible for their own airfare unless otherwise noted.
*Personal Expenses (estimated) – These will vary depending on the student’s spending habits, cost of living in the destination country, and the number of meals included in the program fee. This may also include visa fees, vaccinations, academic supplies/books and other miscellaneous daily expenses.
Program Fee (estimated) – $3,000
Tuition (3hrs) – $2,580
Airfare (estimated) – $2,000
Personal Expenses (estimated) – $500
Estimated total cost – $8,080
The exact Program Fee and Tuition costs will be finalized early Spring semester 2012.
Financial Aid/Scholarships
Scholarships available through Center for International Studies
Application Deadline
February 15, 2012
Criteria
Good academic standing
All majors accepted
Contact Information
Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Professor of Religion
758-3945
vandoopa@wfu.edu
Fez, Morocco
Wake Forest University’s Morocco Summer Program is based at the Arabic Language Institute in Fez (ALIF), which is housed in a large Moorish-styled villa in the modern French section of the city, and is directed by a WFU faculty member. An intensive language and culture program, its participants take 6 hours of either Arabic or French and one 3-hour course in area/cultural studies. The 6-hour language courses include Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Arabic as well as Intermediate French, all of which are taught by ALIF instructors who are native speakers. The focus of the 3-hour course, which is taught by the WFU resident director, varies from year to year in accordance with the director’s area of academic discipline. The Summer 2011 resident director is Senior Lecturer in Religion, Dr. Darlene May, who will teach
REL 362: Islam in Morocco. This course is designed to provide students with (1) a foundation in Islam as a system of beliefs and practices, especially as they manifest in Morocco, (2) a grounding in how Islam first appeared in Arabic in 622 A.D. and then grew into an empire, spreading across North Africa, (3) a first-hand understanding of how various Islamic cultural institutions—the home, the marketplace, the mosque, the madrasa , the zawiyah, and saints’ tombs—developed in Morocco, (4) an examination of the uniqueness of Araic as a sacred language and its evolution into the premiere Islamic art form of calligraphy and vehicle for the signal rites of Quranic recitation and dhikr, and (5) a close look at the meeting of East and West, of Islamic and non-Islamic, in the Islamic world in general and in Morocco in particular—all within the context of the centrality of Sufism in Morocco historically and culturally. REL 362 has been approved to count as 3 hours towards the Religion major or minor and/or the Middle East/South Asia Studies minor.
The 2011 program dates are May 27-July 15. Six weeks of classroom study will be complemented by excursions and cultural activities that will include weekend trips to Meknes, Volubilis, Moulay Idriss, Middle Atlas towns (Ifrane, Azrou, and Umm al-Rabi’a), the Sahara Desert, Rabat, and Tangier as well as day trips to various sites in Fez like the market in the ancient madina, a Quran school, and performances at the World Sacred Music Festival. This will be followed by a week of travel to Essaouira and Marrakesh. To enrich the cultural experience, students will stay with Moroccan families while studying in Fez. During the excursions, however, students will be housed in hotels. The program will begin and end in Casablanca. The estimated cost of $5600 covers 9 hours of tuition, housing, excursions, and most meals. Airfare (about $1050 RT) and personal expenses are not included.
Contact Information:
- Dr. Darlene R. May, Senior Lecturer in Religion maydr@wfu.edu
- Dr. Michaelle Browers, Program Administrator browerm@wfu.edu
- Arabic Language Institute website: www.alif-fes.com
- Center for International Studies website: cis.wfu.edu