Thomas P. Gibson F'08

ACLS Fellowship Program 2008
(Professor Gibson has been designated an ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellow.)
Professor
Department: Anthropology
University of Rochester
Ritual Knowledge and Social Movements in Islamic Southeast Asia

This project examines contemporary political and religious movements in Islamic Southeast Asia. It begins with the Makassar people of South Sulawesi, Indonesia and proceeds to a series of comparative and historical analyses to construct a general theoretical argument about the relationship between the small-scale models of the ideal self inculcated through ritual and the large-scale models of the ideal state that have inspired social movements throughout the Islamic world in the modern era.