Areas of Expertise
Anthropology of Religion; Island Southeast Asia (Indonesia); Islamic Education and Leadership; Qualitative Methods; Southeast Asian Religious Experience; Comparative Muslim Cultures
Education
Ph.D. Social-Cultural Anthropology Arizona State University, 1997
M.A. Social-Cultural Anthropology Arizona State University, 1991
B.A. Sociology-Anthropology Seattle Pacific University, 1988
Biography
Lukens-Bull has written significant works on the Anthropology of Islam. His 1999 theoretical article, "Between Text and Practice: Considerations in the Anthropological Study of Islam," Marburg Journal of Religion 4 (2): 10-20, 1999 has been reprinted and widely cited. Lukens-Bull addressed methodological and ethical issues in his 2007 article "Lost in a Sea of Subjectivity: The Subject Position of the Researcher in the Anthropology of Islam," Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life. 1(2):173-192. His ethnographic research has focused on Islamic education in Indonesia starting with traditional Islamic education in A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Modernity and Identity in Muslim Java (Palgrave McMillan, 2005), which examines how this community is engaging globalization through curriculum revisions. More recently, Lukens-Bull has held a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant which allowed him to examine Islamic higher education and the debates surrounding curriculum shift which in the current political climate leads to accusations of apostasy and in extreme cases barely veiled death threats. Theoretically, this work is important in understanding counter-radical discourses within the context of other Islamic discourse.
Lukens-Bull regularly mentors undergraduates on research projects. Five have received University of North Florida funding to conduct their research; two have presented at the American Anthropological Association meetings; and one has published their research in a venue outside the university.
Affiliations
Since 1989 American Anthropological Association
1998-2001 AAS Indonesian Studies Committee, Board Member
Since 1999 Society for the Anthropology of Religion
1999-2000 History of Islam (islam-l) list moderator
Since 2007, Editorial Board, Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life
Since 2007, Co-Editor, Global Networks: Contemporary Studies in Muslim Communities. Book Series with Springer Publications.
Since 2009, Editorial Board, International Journal of Pesantren Studies.
Since 2009, Editorial Board, Journal of Indonesian Islam
2010 -- AAS Indonesian Studies Committee, Board Member
Publications & Presentations
Books
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2005) A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Identity and Modernity in Muslim Java. New York: Palgrave McMillan.
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2004) Jihad ala Pesantren di Mata Antropolog Amerika (Jihad ala Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools in the Eyes of an American Anthropologist). Yogyakarta: Gama Media.
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2003) Sacred Places and Modern Landscapes: Sacred Geography and Social-Religious Transformations in South and Southeast Asia (Editor). Tempe: Arizona State University Program for Southeast Asian Studies
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Lukens-Bull, Ronald and Mark Woodward (2011) Goliath and David in Gaza: Indonesian myth-building and conflict as a cultural system. Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life 5:1-17
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2010) “Madrasa By Any Other Name: Pondok, Pesantren, and Islamic Schools in Southeast Asia. Journal of Indonesian Islam. Vol 4 Number 1, June 2010
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2008) “The Traditions of Pluralism, Accommodation, and Anti-Radicalism in the Pesantren Community” Journal of Indonesian Islam 2(1): 196-211.
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2007) “Lost in a Sea of Subjectivity: The Subject Position of the
Researcher in the Anthropology of Islam” Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life.
1(2):173-192.
Lukens-Bull, Ronald and Mark Fafard (2007) “Next Year in Orlando: (Re)Imaging Israel in Christian Zionism.” Journal of Religion and Society. Volume 9.
Lukens-Bull, Ronald (2003) "Ronald McDonald as a Javanese Mystic and an Indonesian Freedom Fighter: Reflections on the Global and the Local." Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 17(1):106-122.
