Dr Julian Millie
Tel: +61 3 990 52996
Fax: +61 3 990 52410
Email: Julian.Millie@arts.monash.edu.au
Room: W1131 (Menzies, 11th floor West) (Menzies) Clayton Campus
Julian's major research interest is the Islamic culture of Indonesia in general, and cultural production connected with religious gatherings in particular. He completed undergraduate study in Indonesian language and culture at Monash University, Melbourne, and also holds a graduate diploma in Arabic from the University of Melbourne. His Masters research (completed 1999), conducted under the supervision of Stuart Robson, concerned the classical tradition of Islamic romance in the Malay language. Between 2001 and 2005 he was a PhD researcher in the Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Leiden University, the Netherlands, under the supervision of Professor Henk Maier and Dr Nico Kaptein. This research involved one year's fieldwork in the village communities of the northern fringe of the city of Bandung, where he investigated the ritual practice of reading the pious deeds (manaqib) and sanctity (karamah) of Islam's most renowned intercessor, Abdul Qadir al-Jaelani. He defended his thesis, entitled Splashed by the Saint: Ritual reading and Islamic sanctity in West Java, in February of 2006.
Since January of 2006, Julian has been working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies and the School of Political Inquiry, Monash University, Melbourne. In April of 2007 he commenced a three year Australian Research Council Fellowship for the project entitled 'Preaching Islam in Indonesia: Publics, Performers and Politics'. He spent six months of 2008 in Bandung doing fieldwork for this project, and hopes to spend more time doing fieldwork in West Java for that project.
He is the secretary of the board of Inside Indonesia, the world's only online, English language current affairs magazine specifically about Indonesia, and is a regular contributor to that magazine.
Major research interests:- Anthropology of Islam.
- Islamic cultures of Indonesia, especially West Java.
- Sundanese and Malay writing.
- Islamic studies.
Publications
Single-authored refereed books
2009 Splashed by the saint: ritual reading and Islamic sanctity in West Java. Leiden: KITLV Press [Verhandelingen 262.]
2004 Bidasari; jewel of Malay muslim culture. Leiden: KITLV press [Bibliotheca Indonesica 31.]
Book chapters and major articles
2009 ‘Ritual recitation of Abdul Qadir’s karamat: A social history’, in Putten, Jan van der and Mary Kilcline Cody (eds), Lost times and untold tales from the Malay world. Singapore: NUS, pp. 198-209.
2008 ‘‘Spiritual meal’ or ongoing project? The Dilemma of Dakwah oratory’, in Fealy, Greg and White, Sally (eds), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, Singapore: ISEAS, pp. 80-94.
2008 ‘Supplicating, naming, offering: Tawassul in West Java’. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 39 (1), pp. 107-122.
2008 ‘Khāriq ul-‘ādah anecdotes and the representation of karāmāt: Written and spoken hagiography in Islam’. History of Religions 48:1, pp. 43-65.
2008 ‘Non-Specialists in the pesantren: the social construction of Islamic knowledge’. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 42-1:107-124.
2005 with Syihabuddin, ‘Addendum to Drewes: The Burda of Al-Bûsîrî and the Miracles of Abdulqadir al-Jaelani’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land en Volkenkunde 161-1:98-126
2004 ‘Narrative potential of the Mi‘râj: two contexts for its interpretation’, in Jansen, J. and Maier, H.M.J. (eds), 2004. Epic adventures: Heroic Narrative in the Oral Performance Traditions of Four Continents. Munster: Lit Verlag
2001 ‘The poem of Bidasari in the Maranao language’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 157:403-6
1999 ‘The Tempo case: Indonesia’s press laws, the Pengadilan Tata Usaha Negara and the Indonesian negara hukum’ in Lindsey, T. (ed.) Indonesia; law and society.pp 269-278.Sydney: Federation Press
Minor books
2008 The People’s Religion: The Sermons of A.F. Ghazali. Bandung: Cupumanik.
2004 (with Stuart Robson) Instant Indonesian: Everything you need to speak Indonesian in 100 key words and phrases. Singapore: Tuttle
2003 Celebration of the Desires. English translation from Sundanese (with introduction) of Tafrîh ul-khâtir fî manâqib tâj il-auliyâ‘i wa burhân il-asfiyâ‘i ash-shaikh ‘Abd ul-Qâdir il-Kailânî, Qaddas Allâhu sirrahu.Queenscliff: Joseph Helmi [Sufi thoughts from Indonesia vol 1.]
Other non-refereed publications
2008 ‘Where are you (not) from?’ Inside Indonesia 93: Aug-Oct 2008.
2008 ‘Pangalaman diajar basa Sunda’. Cupumanik Vol. V No. 6, pp. 59-61.
2008 ‘Angel sparks controversy: Journalists strike after West Java’s most famous newspaper ‘withdraws’ poem’. Inside Indonesia 91, Jan-March.
2007 ‘Manakiban jeung pangajian laying Séh’. Cupumanik Vol. 4, no 3, pp. 30-33.
2007 ‘Paméran Buku Sunda di Australia’. Cupumanik Vol V, no 2, pp. 67-68.
2007 ‘M16s for punks: Punk rockers turn to Yogya craftsmen for ‘guitar weapons’’. Inside Indonesia 90: Oct-Dec 2007
2007 Review of We Are Playing Relatives by Henk Maier. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs, RIMA 41-1, 193-197
2006 ‘Religion on trial: Woman who claims to speak to angel Gabriel tests ‘constitutional rights’’ Inside Indonesia, Jul-Sep 2006, p 22.
2006 ‘Creating Islamic Places: Tombs and sanctity in West Java’, ISIM Review (Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, Leiden, the Netherlands) 17, (Spring 2006) 12-13.
2004 Review essay: ‘Three books on the literary traditions of West Java’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde,160:2/3, pp. 416-423.
2001 (with Johan Weststeijn) ‘Droom uitleg in het oude Malaise’, in Religie en Mystik (Amsterdam).
Reviews of Millie’s publications
Campbell, C. Review of Bidasari: Jewel of Malay Muslim culture, in Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 138:2, 2004, pp 180-183.
Chambert-Loir, Henri. Review of Bidasari: Jewel of Malay Muslim culture, in Indonesia 81 (April 2006), pp 165-176.
Meij, Dick van der. Review of Bidasari: Jewel of Malay Muslim Culture, in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 162:2/3, 2006, pp 397-405.
Sinha, Lalita. Review of Bidasari: Jewel of Malay Muslim Culture, in Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society LXXIX, Part 1, 2006, pp. 123-125.
Putten, Jan van der, Between Iron Formalism and Playful Relativism: Five recent studies in Malay Writing (includes review of Bidasari: Jewel of Malay Muslim Culture and four other works on Malay culture). Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 38 (1), 2007, pp. 147-163.
Romli, Usep, ‘Kiai Ghazali jeung basa Sunda’, Cupumanik, September 2008, pp 66-70 (review in Sundanese of The People’s Religion).