In this seminar, Najmah will discuss her current book project, The Sholeha paradox: Mothers, deception, and the HIV struggle in Indonesia, to offer a rare and intimate look at a hidden crisis unfolding within the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

In Indonesia, the archetype of the Sholeha—the pious, obedient Muslim wife—is revered as a pillar of domestic safety and moral standing. Yet, for many women, this sacred expectation of obedience has become a silent risk factor. The Sholeha paradox pulls back the curtain on a growing epidemic of HIV sweeping through traditional families, where "good wives" are infected by the husbands they trusted, and widows are left to navigate a world of sickness and systemic neglect. 

Drawing on ten years of feminist-participatory action research, the work is grounded in the author’s identity as a Muslim feminist researcher and epidemiologist born and raised in Palembang, South Sumatra. Blending scientific inquiry with a deep, lived understanding of the Sumatran context, the book moves beyond cold data to feel the pulse of human experience. 

The Sholeha paradox follows the lives of women standing before the "Stigma Wall"—a formidable barrier built from the bricks of kepo (gossip culture), fragmented healthcare, and institutional discrimination. It attends to the fierce agency of mothers: from the grandmother raising an orphaned grandchild to the woman fighting for her life-saving antiretroviral therapy in the midst of a global pandemic.

Part epidemiological study and part intimate memoir, The Sholeha paradox serves as an urgent manifesto, demanding a transformation in how we view, treat, and honor mothers in the global fight against HIV.

Speaker

Najmah is an Associate Professor with a PhD in Public Health, specialized in Epidemiology at Sriwijaya University in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Her extensive research focuses on critical maternal and child health and social epidemiology, including HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, stunting, and community-based interventions. She is currently a research fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden and a research fellow and visiting lecturer at Kasetsart University, Thailand.

Discussant

Annemarie Samuels is an Associate Professor at the Leiden Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. She has extensive research experience in Indonesia on the topics of narratives, morality, care, HIV/AIDS and disaster and a broad interest in psychological anthropology, narrative studies, phenomenology, and medical anthropology.

Moderator

David Kloos is a historian and anthropologist with a focus on Southeast Asia (particularly Indonesia and Malaysia), working as a senior researcher at KITLV. His main interests are religion (particularly Islam), gender, the politics of knowledge formation, visual methods, and the study of the social, political, and cultural aspects of climate change.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 19 February from 16.00–17.30 PM (CET).  

Image

The complexity of HIV transmission. Developed by 5 HIV-positive women during FGD - Najmah documentation.

Flyer

PDF format