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Kloos, Dr. David

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David Kloos specializes in the history and anthropology of Southeast Asia, with a special focus on Islam. His current research project, titled ‘Seeing is believing: Female Islamic leadership and visual rhetoric in Southeast Asia’ (supported by an NWO-Veni grant), analyses the ways in which female Islamic authorities in Malaysia and Indonesia make use of visual images to communicate with their audience.

David completed his PhD in history (2013) at VU University Amsterdam on the basis of a partly historical, partly ethnographic study of Islam in Aceh, Indonesia. This project explored the ways in which ordinary Muslims have dealt with and influenced the increasingly pervasive norms set by state and religious authorities.

At KITLV, David is also involved in the research project ‘Recording the Future: An Audiovisual Archive of Everyday Life in Indonesia in the 21st Century.’

Selected Publications

Forthcoming 2017. Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

Forthcoming 2017. Co-edited with Daan Beekers. Straying from the Straight Path: How Senses of Failure Invigorate Lived Religion (Berghahn Books).

2016. Co-edited with Mirjam Künkler. Special Issue. Studying Female Islamic Authority: From Top-Down to Bottom-Up Modes of Certification. Asian Studies Review 40 (4).

2015. Living in a Makeshift World? Mobility, Temporariness, and Everyday Life in Indonesia. Visual Anthropology Review 31 (2), 147–162.

2015. Co-edited with R. Michael Feener and Annemarie Samuels. Islam and the Limits of the State: Reconfigurations of Practice, Community and Authority in Contemporary Aceh. Leiden: Brill.

For a complete overview of David’s publications, see his website or Academia page.