Book Project

The Threat of Small Groups: Visibility and Violence in Indonesia

My book project, which is based on my award-winning dissertation, investigates an oft-overlooked puzzle in the literature on intergroup conflict: conflict involving groups that are less than 1% of the population. Given their economic and political insignificance, why do micro-sized groups become targets of mobilization and repression?

I argue that the threat of micro-sized groups is linked to fears about group boundaries in flux. Challenges to core foundations of group can be perceived as threatening, especially when they are publicly visible. In addition to rendering threats concrete, the politicized nature of public space means that actions carried out in public view can be perceived by members of the majority as a challenge to existing power arrangements. When political entrepreneurs are incentivized to instrumentalize these challenges to group boundaries, rates of anti-minority targeting multiplies. Drawing on archival data, events data, and over 120 interviews collected over 15 months of fieldwork, I develop this argument through the case of the targeting of the Ahmadiyah, a heterodox sect of Islam, in Indonesia.

My findings suggest that threat perception is not just driven by concerns around resources, but is shaped by a group’s public visibility. As a result, my research challenges longstanding assumptions about the necessary material dimensions of threat. Understanding how visible constitutive threats operate can shed light on phenomena that appear to be costly, inefficient, and irrational. It also highlights the importance of studying religious practices in the study of religion and conflict. Even when religious groups hold nearly identical and stable religious beliefs, the religious practices that emerge from these ideologies differ and change over time. These different religious practices shape how the group is perceived by outsiders. Focusing on religious practice—rather than on ideology alone—may explain the seemingly varied or contradictory effects of religious ideology on conflict.

Journal ARTICLES (Peer Reviewed)

“Quotidian Institutions and Identity Formation: Explaining Patterns of Identity Salience in Maluku, Indonesia.” 2021. Asian Politics and Policy, vol. 13, no.1, pp. 56-71.

“Towards Active Reflexivity: Positionality and Practice in the Production of Knowledge” (with Aarjen Glas). 2020. PS: Political Science and Politics, vol 53, no. 3, pp. 527-531.

“Informal Networks and Religious Intolerance: How Clientelism Incentivizes the Discrimination of the Ahmadiyah in Indonesia.” 2018. Citizenship Studies, vol 22, no. 2, pp. 191-207. [Indonesian Translation 2019 from Yayasan Pustaka Obor]

 “The De-Escalation of Violence and the Political Economy of Peace Mongering: Evidence from Maluku, Indonesia” (with Alexandre Pelletier). 2017. South East Asia Research, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 325-341.

Journal Articles (Editor reviewed)

“Indonesia’s 2019 General Election: Democracy in Retreat?” 2019. Asian Politics and Policy vol. 11, no. 4: pp. 672-674.

“A Posture of Active Reflexivity: Learning from Lee Ann Fujii’s Approach to Research" (with Aarjen Glas). 2018. Qualitative and Multi-Methods Research, vol 16, pp. 53-55.

Book chapters

"Civic Associations and Practices in Maluku, Indonesia: Explaining the Failure of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) Movement." 2024. In Regional Movements and Identity Demands in Developing Democracies: Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective, edited by Amy Liu and Joel Selway. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

"Reflexive Methodologies and Methods" (with Aarie Glas). 2024. In Oxford Handbook of Methodological Pluralism in Political Science, edited by Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, and Dino Christenson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Policy Reports

“A Threat to Stability? Islamic Extremism and Fundamentalism in Indonesia” (with Jacques Bertrand). 2015. Canadian Institute for Governance and Innovation Paper Series No.95. 

book reviews

Review of Show Time: The Logic and Power of Violent Display by Lee Ann Fujii. 2022. In Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 60.3: 331-333.

Review of Stories from the Field: A Guide to Navigating Fieldwork in Political Science, edited by Peter Krause and Ora Szekely. 2022. H-Diplo Review Essay.

Review of Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia by David Kloos. 2019. Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion.

Manuscripts in pREPARATION

"The Threat of Small Things: The Occupation of Public Space and the Persecution of Micro-Sized Groups in Indonesia." In circulation.

“Reflexivity and Research Assistants: How the Social Location of Research Assistants Shapes the Production of Knowledge” (with Syahar Banu).