Integritas Terbuka: Peace and Interfaith Studies

Ideological Criticism of Sustainable Development: Degrowth and Challenges to Ecological Capitalism

Much Setiawan Rizky, Stephanus Djunatan — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study aims to examine the limitations of ethical green consumption as a solution to the environmental crisis, highlighting how such practices operate within an economic system that in fact reinforces ecological degradation. Green consumption is seen as incapable of addressing the root causes of the crisis, as it remains trapped in the logic of endless growth, commodification, and the individualization of ecological responsibility. This research is crucial given the increasing popularity of ethical consumption narratives in policymaking and popular culture, despite their often illusory contributions to sustainability. The study employs a qualitative approach grounded in semiotics and interpretive analysis. Data are collected through a literature review of academic texts, policy documents, and media narratives that engage with the concepts of green consumption and degrowth. The analysis deconstructs signs, symbols, and metaphors within sustainability discourse and situates them within broader social and ideological contexts. The main finding reveals that ethical green consumption functions as an ideological mechanism that stabilizes the capitalist economic system through moral aesthetics, rather than as a transformative effort that addresses the ecological crisis at its root. The discourses of green growth and sustainable development promoted by global institutions are framed in technocratic language that conceals power relations, global inequality, and ecological imperialism. In contrast, degrowth emerges as an alternative paradigm that proposes a redefinition of prosperity based on sufficiency, redistribution, reciprocity, and global ecological justice—particularly through selective contraction in wealthy nations and development autonomy for the Global South. The study's implications point to the need for a shift in sustainability policy and culture—from an emphasis on individual responsibility toward systemic transformation and global justice. This research contributes original insights by integrating semiotic analysis and critical theory to uncover the growth ideology embedded in green consumption and by rearticulating degrowth not as austerity, but as a political, ecological, and social vision for a just and sustainable future.

Pancasila, Nonagama, and Human Rights: A Critical Study of Socio-Cultural and Constitutional Practices in Indonesia

Sidik Permana, Fanny S. Alam — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study aims to analyse the role of Pancasila as the nation’s philosophy in ensuring justice and equality for minority groups, particularly nonagama, who have long received limited attention in both academic discourse and public policy. The research employs a qualitative approach using a literature study method and thematic as well as critical document analysis of discourses on nonagama and interpretations of Pancasila’s principles, especially the first precept. The findings reveal three main obstacles faced by nonagama groups in attaining justice and equality: (1) the exclusive interpretation of Pancasila’s first precept, (2) a prevailing social paradigm that links morality with religiosity, and (3) low public awareness of pluralistic values. These findings imply the need for a reconstruction of understanding Pancasila in a more inclusive and open manner, so that it can guarantee constitutional rights for all citizens without discrimination. The originality of this research lies in its focus on nonagama groups from the perspective of Pancasila—an area rarely addressed in previous studies—thus contributing new insights to the discourse on pluralism, inclusivity, and human rights in Indonesia.

Interfaith Dialogue, Collective Trauma Healing, and Youth Peacebuilding in the Global South: A Comparative Study of Trustbuilding Programs in Indonesia and Kenya

Anisa Eka Putri Kusmayani, Miftahul Huda, Dan Mugera — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study examines the role of the Trustbuilding Program (TBP) in fostering interfaith dialogue and healing collective trauma among youth in Indonesia and Kenya. The research aims to explore how youth, often viewed merely as victims or perpetrators of radicalization, can become key agents of peacebuilding when provided with safe spaces and creative dialogical methods. A qualitative research design was employed, combining participatory observation and document analysis, including stories of change, program reports, videos, and modules. The first author participated directly in TBP camps in Indonesia, while program managers in Indonesia and Kenya contributed practitioner perspectives. The findings reveal that TBP in both countries emphasizes four pillars: starting with self-transformation, healing historical wounds, engaging in honest conversations, and building diverse teams. In Kenya, the program is implemented through universities and strengthened by religious leaders, while in Indonesia it is carried out through community-based camps that integrate creative tools such as storytelling, board games, and reflective practices. Both approaches enabled youth to articulate inherited traumas, build trust across faith lines, and create inclusive narratives of coexistence. The study contributes to peacebuilding scholarship by foregrounding collective trauma as a central variable in interfaith dialogue and demonstrating the flexibility of TBP methods across different socio-historical contexts in the Global South. Practically, the results suggest that sustainable interfaith dialogue requires not only global frameworks but also local adaptations that address historical grievances, social polarization, and structural inequalities. The originality of this study lies in its comparative perspective on TBP in Indonesia and Kenya, highlighting how trauma-informed dialogue methods enable youth to transform historical wounds into resources for reconciliation and pluralism. Unlike previous studies that focus either on theological values or grassroots activism, this research situates trauma as both a challenge and an opportunity for interfaith peacebuilding.

Hermeneutical Reconstruction of Qur’anic War Verses: Exclusive Exegesis, Power Relations, and the Challenge of Religious Radicalism in Contemporary Indonesia

Andi Malaka, Roro Sri Rejeki Waluyajati, Kustana Kustana — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study aims to analyze how exclusive and literalist interpretations of Qur’anic verses on warfare, such as QS. At-Taubah:5and QS. Al-Anfāl:12, have become one of the roots of religious radicalism and to offer a framework for reconstructing interpretation that is more ethical and contextual. The research employs a qualitative-critical approach through library research, using Fazlur Rahman’s double-movement hermeneutics, Michel Foucault’s analysis of power relations, and the framework of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ahas analytical tools. Data were collected from classical tafsirs (al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī), modern tafsirs (Tafsir al-Azhar, Tafsir al-Mishbāh), and contemporary academic literature. The findings reveal that literalist exegesis, when detached from its historical context and ethical purposes, legitimizes violence and fuels exclusivism, while contextual exegesis offers an inclusive framework that fosters dialogue, reconciliation, and social justice. This study also shows that exegesis is not ideologically neutral but often functions as an arena of power contestation, where interpretation can either reinforce domination or become a discourse of liberation against fundamentalism. The implications highlight the urgent need to integrate contextual hermeneutics into religious education curricula, strengthen exegetical literacy in public discourse, and promote interreligious dialogue as a means to counter radicalism. The originality of this research lies in its interdisciplinary integration of hermeneutics, power analysis, and socio-political context, which provides a comprehensive framework for reinterpreting Qur’anic war verses in a way that is faithful to the text yet responsive to contemporary plural realities.

Analysis of Social Domination and Alienation: A Critical Reading of Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis within the Context of Modern Power Relations

Muhamad Al Biruni — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study aims to analyze the practices of social domination and the experiences of alienation encountered by Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis through the integration of Seeman’s Alienation Theory and Pratto’s Social Dominance Theory. This investigation emerges from the need to understand how power relations within the family sphere and pressures from the capitalist work system shape conditions of estrangement that erode an individual’s identity, dignity, and social relations. The research employs a qualitative approach using close reading techniques applied to the literary text. The analysis is strengthened by Abrams’s model, which emphasizes the relationship between text, reader, and contemporary social context, thereby enabling a more interdisciplinary interpretation. The findings reveal that Gregor experiences the five forms of alienation identified by Seeman—powerlessness, meaninglessness, social isolation, self-estrangement, and anomie. These forms of alienation emerge as direct consequences of the family’s structure of domination, led by the father and reproduced by Grete, and are further reinforced by pressures from the capitalist economic system that reduces Gregor to an instrument of production. The results demonstrate that social domination operates not only through physical and symbolic power but also through internalization processes that lead Gregor to accept himself as “the other,” ultimately causing the loss of his identity and the meaning of his existence. This study offers an original contribution by addressing a gap in the literature through the integration of Seeman’s and Pratto’s theoretical frameworks—a combination rarely applied in Kafka studies—to show that alienation cannot be understood solely as a psychological phenomenon but must be viewed as the outcome of structural power relations within the family. The study also affirms that literary works can serve as reflective media for examining the dynamics of domination, structural violence, and the erosion of human dignity in contemporary social realities.

Social Construction of Inclusive Education as Peace Practice in Islamic Schooling

Iman Ahmad Gymnastiar, Annisaa Ambarnis — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study aims to explain how inclusive education practices at Cendekia Muda Universal Islamic School, Bandung, West Java, contribute to building a culture of peace through the social processes formed in the daily interactions of the school community. The analysis focuses on how Islamic-based values, relationships, and school programs shape inclusive social identities, particularly for students with special needs. This research employs a qualitative approach through participant observation, in-depth interviews with the principal, teachers, and students from Grades X–XII, as well as document analysis. The findings demonstrate that peace values are constructed through inclusive routines that normalize differences, foster peer support, and reduce social distance among students. Islamic religious programs such as Friday Reflections, akhlak mentoring, and cross-identity dialogue serve as key arenas for reconstructing stereotypes, strengthening empathy, and expanding social solidarity. In addition, collaboration among the principal, teachers, the inclusion coordinator, parents, and students creates a coherent and supportive educational ecosystem that nurtures open-minded, egalitarian, and cooperative student character. This study concludes that an inclusion model grounded in Islamic values holds transformative potential for cultivating sustainable peace within schools. As its original contribution, this research proposes the concept of “inclusivity as a peace practice” within Islamic schooling—an area still rarely explored in Indonesian sociology of education.

Weighing “Islam Nusantara”: A Lexical and Historical Critique of the Terminology of Islamic Moderation in Indonesia

Muhammad Valiyyul Haqq — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study critically examines the term Islam Nusantara as a key concept in Indonesia’s discourse on Islamic moderation. Nahdlatul Ulama popularized the term to articulate a form of Islam that integrates Islam’s universal values with local cultural contexts. This study aims to assess the conceptual precision of Islam Nusantara by analyzing its lexical and historical implications, given its expanding use across religious discourse, academic debates, and public policy. The study employs a qualitative approach grounded in lexical-semantic analysis and historical-conceptual inquiry. It draws on library research by conducting a critical reading of religious texts, organizational documents, public speeches, and academic literature that represent the pro-and-con debates surrounding Islam Nusantara. First, at the lexical level, the phrase Islam Nusantara contains inherent ambiguity because its grammatical structure permits an attributive reading—Islam that is Nusantaran—which can prompt audiences to interpret it as a particular variant or typology of Islam rather than as a designation of the geographic and cultural context of Islamic practice. Second, at the historical level, the narratives that sustain the term tend to treat Javanese–Malay Islam as the dominant representation of Islam in the archipelago, thereby obscuring the plurality of routes, agents, and Islamic traditions across Indonesia’s islands. Third, at the discursive level, Islam Nusantara functions primarily as a discursive strategy and a project of religious identity through which actors articulate Islamic moderation in the context of nationhood and globalization, rather than as a stable normative theological category. These findings underscore the need for conceptual caution in deploying religious terminology so that it does not generate semantic reduction or symbolic exclusion. The study’s original contribution lies in formulating a framework for terminological critique that positions Islam Nusantara as an arena of meaning negotiation between Islam’s universality and cultural locality, while opening space for the development of a concept of Islamic moderation that is more academically precise and historically inclusive.

From Institutional Authority to Digital Actors: The Transformation of Interfaith Dialogue in the Digital Technology Era

Gerardette Philips — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The rapid development of digital technology has fundamentally transformed the landscape of interfaith dialogue, reshaping not only patterns of communication among religious communities but also the distribution of religious authority and the formation of religious public spheres. This study aims to systematically examine how digital transformation—through social media, artificial intelligence, and online ecosystems—reconfigures the practices, actors, and meanings of interfaith dialogue in the contemporary era. This research is particularly significant given the growing role of digital technology as both a medium and a mediating structure of religious dialogue, which generates new opportunities while simultaneously raising complex ethical, epistemological, and theological challenges. This study adopts a qualitative approach through the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method by examining journal articles, conference proceedings, and academic books published between 2020 and 2024 and sourced from reputable international databases. The analysis follows stages of systematic selection, thematic coding, and conceptual synthesis to identify major patterns of findings, shifts in authority, and theoretical tendencies within the scholarship on digital interfaith dialogue. The findings indicate that digital platforms significantly expand the space for interfaith dialogue by enhancing inclusivity, accessibility, and participation across geographical and institutional boundaries. At the same time, this transformation accompanies a shift in religious authority from institutional structures toward decentralized digital actors, including religious content creators and artificial intelligence–based systems that function as epistemic mediators. On the other hand, the study also reveals serious challenges, such as algorithmic bias, disinformation, the commodification of religious practices, and increasing dependence on AI-based dialogue systems, all of which risk reducing the depth of theological reflection and the overall quality of interfaith engagement. The implications of this study underscore the urgency of developing a prophetic and theological approach as a normative framework for responding to digital transformation. Such an approach positions religious communities as critical actors in shaping digital ethics, strengthening technological literacy, and fostering cross-sector collaboration with technology stakeholders. The originality of this study lies in its critical synthesis that integrates interfaith dialogue studies, digital religion, and artificial intelligence within a single analytical framework, thereby enriching the conceptual understanding of religious studies amid global digital transformation.