Mapping Islam In Indonesia - Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC)

Mapping the Spread of
Islam In Indonesia:
Problems with Points and Polygons
Caverlee Cary
GIS Center, UC Berkeley
“E-culture and Intellectual Property in the Global Community”
Pacific Neighborhood Consortium Annual Conference
University of Hawaii, Manoa
November 2, 2005
Constructing and
De-constructing Visualizations
Issues in contemporary and historic contexts of
relation between data, its representation, and the
reality of peoples’ lives
Use available or contributed data to make maps
Questionable completeness: no data contributed, or
no data survives
Validity: Can we judge the documentation of history?
Can we avoid bringing our own biases to bear in
interpreting what we work with, intentionally or
unintentionally filling in gaps?
Robert Cribb’s
Historical Atlas of
Indonesia
(University of Hawaii,
2000)
Spatial data assistance by
Lawrence Crissman
Original Goals
Provide support for development of data for
ECAI Southeast Asia
Opportunity to begin mapping Indonesia data
Suggest the shift from Buddhism to Islam in
Indonesia (primarily Java and Sumatra)
An opportunity to further the mapping of
trade routes, as trade routes are regarded
as critical to the spread of Islam
Space, Time, Attribute data
Collaborators:
Spatial data (real-time satellite data retrieval):
Howard Foster, Calmap
Temporal data (animation of Cribb’s polygons
over time): Andrew Wilson and Tessa BoerMah, University of Sydney
Attribute data: culled from secondary sources
on Indonesia, displayed in TimeMap
Points, Polygons, and
Uncertainty
Secondary sources use spatial shorthand,
including citing a city for an area that may be
larger than a city alone, or only a few
individuals within that city
Secondary sources may cite a contemporary
geographic name that may or may not
represent the same spatial unit in different
understandings (i. e. “trade with China”)
Evidence and Uncertainty
Early period: extreme uncertainty
Artifacts: graves in central Java with Islamic
inscriptions
Chronicles: Ma-Huan, traveling with Zheng He
to passisir coast, north Java
Later: clearer indications, such as rulers inviting
Islamic scholars from middle East to teach, and
presence of Islamic manuscripts
Points, Polygons, and
Uncertainty
At best:
Some regions have a wealth of documents, which even
then may still have gaps or other irregularities
Example: Ming shih-lu (China)
These chronicles have information relevant to trade with
Indonesia, but are compiled outside Indonesia
On-line Ming Shih-lu
Points, Polygons, and
Uncertainty
At worst:
Important cultural and political entities that leave little
record
Example: Srivijaya, a major trading entrepot, site of large
monasteries, exporter of culture that left its mark in
inscription and art objects across western Indonesia,
Malaysia, and peninsular Thailand
Capital possibly near Palembang in Sumatra
Likely to have been built of largely perishable materials,
perhaps much of it over water, so little survives
Temporal data: Animation
Spatial data using “CalMap”
CalMap input interface
Website includes an interface for internet access in real
time global spatial data
The spatial data is at present an IMAGE ONLY. Work is
underway to geo-reference individual polygons in
order to conduct spatial analysis.
Trade Routes
Route vectors simplified for ease in understanding in
secondary sources, but thus leaving out other sites
involved in trade
Evidence for the Spread of Islam
Spread of Islam: Cities
Conversion to Islam
“Conversions” polygons
What does “conversion” to Islam mean?
Historians within the Muslim tradition: is their vision
different?
Trading partners: assumed to be combination of
convenience and conviction in varying proportions?
Aggrandize position by adoption of the accoutrements
of “sultan”
What relation is there between conversion at the “top”
and change in way of life for the rest of the
population?
Records of “conversion” moments may or may not
survive
Overall: suggest a general pattern of conversion, but
multiple levels of uncertainty in meaning
Wali Songo
Local and national mythology: critical figures in
the spread of Islam
The Wali Songo and the
Spread of Islam
The wali songo
legacy is part of
national mythology
Their graves are sites
of pilgrimage and
spiritual
mobilization
Wali Songo: Peoples’ Lives
Their lives have multiple possible spatial
identification:
where were they born?
where did they study? Where did their
teachers come from?
where did they practice? (multiple sites, and
multiple sites in different ways?)
where are their graves?
Wali Songo
Multiple kinds of spatial information about a life:
Sunan Ampel
Creating Imagined [Digital]
Communities:
Historical data: sensitivities of data access and
distribution different from that of data relating
to living persons, but still potentially sensitive
issues
Intellectual property rights of communities to
knowledge: writing the story of Islam in
Indonesia
Creating Imagined [Digital]
Communities:
Who has the capacity to speak?
Participation in communications
Technical access
Who has the right to speak?
Legitimacy
Different spheres of establishing credentials
Does the dynamic change once there are multiple
empowered voices?
Project Collaborators, UC GIS Center:
Xing Liu
Howard Foster
Arnold Clobes
Freesia Pearson
John Radke
Caverlee Cary