Ronald Lukens-Bull

Associate Professor
(Ph.D.,Arizona State University)
Sociocultural Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion, Islam, Modernity and Globalization, Education, Southeast Asia.

To date, my research has focused on the so-called traditionalist Muslim community in Indonesia. My newest book, A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Modernity and Identity in Muslim Java (Palgrave McMillan, 2005) examines how this community is engaging globalization through educational and other means. Based on extensive ethnographic research, this book examines how the Islamic community in Java, Indonesia, is actively negotiating both modernity and tradition in the contexts of nation-building, globalization, and a supposed clash of civilizations. The pesantren community, so-called because it is centered around an educational institution called the pesantren, uses education as a central arena for dealing with globalization and the construction and maintenance of an Indonesian Islamic identity. However, the community's efforts to wrestle with these issues extend beyond education into the public sphere in general and specifically in the area of leadership and politics. The case material is used to understand Muslim strategies and responses to civilizational contact and conflict. I have also published on sacred geography, religious commoditization, and popular culture.

My teaching interests remain broad. I am just as comfortable in an introduction to anthropology course as I am in an advanced seminar on Islam, pilgrimage, or political anthropology. I teach a wide range of anthropology courses as well as courses that fit into the Asian Studies minor, the Religious Studies minor, and the International Studies major.

I regularly mentor 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.

Courses Offered:
Introduction to Anthropology
Magic, Science, and Religion
Film, Anthropology, and the Other
Pilgrimage: From Graceland to the Holy Land
Sacred Journeys
Jihad vs. Mcworld
Islam and the West
Peoples and Cultures of the World
Comparative Islamic Cultures
Peoples and Cultures of Southeast Asia
Cross-Cultural Methods
Anthropology of Religion
Pilgrimage and Sacred Geography
Survey of Anthropological Theory
Political Anthropology

Contact information:
Office: 51/2221
Phone: 904-620-1648
Email: rlukens@unf.edu

Links:
Curriculum Vitae