Mrs Subkhani Kusuma Dewi

Subkhani Kusuma Dewi is a lecturer at the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Indonesia and a PhD student at Western Sydney University. Her main research interest is Indonesian pilgrimage practices to Mecca. She has frequently presented her research, including "Research on pilgrimage in times of a pandemic: a remote ethnography toward un-mobile pilgrims in Indonesia" at the Pilgrimage Network International Conference, France, 2021.

The Expression of Indonesian Muslims Performing Umrah Pilgrimage to Mecca

This research examines the Umrah practices of a pesantren-based travel agency, using a hybrid ethnography method to support data gathering, structured in two sections. Initially, it explores traditional Muslim groups’ exploration of the ethical imagination of umrah as a practice parallel to the local Javanese pilgrimage route. The research then focuses on two thematic terms, sowan and barakah, commonly used during the group's exploration. My presentation highlights how the pesantren adapts to the marketisation and the expanding motivation of pilgrims, and its strategies to spread its transmitted values.