Contesting Religiosities in Papua

This Erwin Schrödinger project builds on my previous work on the prominence of religious developments in the contemporary period of crisis and conflict in Papua, the easternmost region of Indonesia. This former Dutch colony, ethnically and religiously highly heterogeneous, today increasingly attracts global interest not least due to its rich natural resources. Since the forced resignation of President Suharto in 1998, Indonesia has undergone major political reforms, which put into practice a nationwide decentralization programme that entailed an unpredicted wave of uncertainty and insecurity. This is particularly the case in Papua, which was granted special autonomy in order to prevent violence along ethno-religious lines and a possible separation from Indonesia. Today, almost a decade after its implementation, most Papuans share the opinion that special autonomy has failed. In this context, Christian influenced Papuan nationalism, as well as the revival of local traditions and customs (adat), gained new momentum. The project proposed here looks closely into growing religious frictions that result from elite networking and religious identity politics. Paying scholarly attention to this aspect of religion in Papua is important because local communities nowadays openly articulate the increasing threat of religiously motivated violence that might arise between Muslims and Christians. How religion in its various manifestations informs identity, society and nationhood in contemporary Papua constitutes the prevailing question that underlies this research project, which suggests to think of the prominence of religion as a consequence of political disappointment, erring decentralization and failed special autonomy. With this focus, the project shall offer a social anthropological contribution to the study of the contemporary "return of the religious", in line with current theoretical discussions on the relations and frictions between nationalism, religion and the secular. The approach of not exploring Western or non-Western centres but the periphery of a postcolonial state links the project to contemporary (religious) frontier theories. Furthermore, the project addresses one of the most prominent themes in contemporary Indonesian studies, i.e. the revival of local traditions or adat, which in Papua fuels emerging religiosities. In addition to that, the project focuses on neo-charismatic churches and Pentecostalism, contributing to the study of Christianity in Indonesia. The highly contested nature of contemporary religiosities in Papua and the violence related to this phenomenon also positions the project also within the inter-disciplinary field of peace and conflict studies. The project is based on the comprehensive available empirical data, gained during two previous projects that were funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the École Française d`Extrême-Orient. The topicality of the project was eventually confirmed through the invitation by Macquarie University, one of Australia`s most distinguished research institutions based in Sydney. At its Department of Anthropology I will have the chance to evaluate and (re-)interpret my data in close collaboration with leading scholars working on Papua, such as Jaap Timmer. Given the fact that Australian research institutions and universities are important academic players on a global scale, especially with regard to anthropological research on the regions of Southeast Asia and Melanesia, this invitation will not only guarantee the realization of my project on a highest professional level but also mark the beginning of a promising scientific collaboration between two distinguished research institutions. Ideally this collaboration will reach a level of joint research projects with the Institute for Social Anthropology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where the return phase of this Erwin Schrödinger project is scheduled to take place.

This Erwin Schrödinger project explored growing religious frictions in Papua, Indonesias easternmost region, which was granted special autonomy to counteract violence along ethno- religious lines as well as prevent the risk of a possible separation from Indonesia. Based on the findings of this research project, it can be said, that, as a consequence of political disappointments due to erring decentralization and failed special autonomy, religious frictions between Christians and Muslims are rising. The likelihood of future religiously motivated violence is certain and requires the utmost attention. The findings of this project strongly suggest that the analysis of nearly 50 years of ongoing conflict in Papua purely along political and ethnic lines is clearly insufficient. The research findings are based on multi-site empirical data collection in Papua and other cities of Indonesia, relevant to the project. A detailed historical, as well as contemporary analysis of Christian influenced Papua nationalism, suggests a widely held belief, by Christian Papuans and Christian immigrants, of an independent Papua being seen as a Christian land. Of essential importance for the interpretation of the comprehensive research material was a specific field stay at the historical center and birthplace of Papua nationalism, based on the island of Biak. It was there where the spiritual leaders of the nationalist Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka) distributed leaflets, calling for a 'Holy War ' and the fight against the Islamization of Papua. Their appeal was followed by a mass demonstration, organized by ecclesiastical institutions, mobilizing thousands of people, of whom some were carrying banners with slogans like "Papua - Land of Christians" and Papua Owned by Jesus. In the same series of events, a Papua activist was assassinated in the city of Jayapura a few weeks later. Indonesian authorities handled the events with strict secrecy policy, which led to the destruction of my research material by the secret police. Indonesian authorities have a reasonable fear of a possible escalation of religiously motivated violence, and do everything they can to hide the reality on the ground. From the perspective of the researcher an ethical question arises. Is the concealment of reality in the interest of Papuas people?