NUSANTARANOLOGY: The Imagination of Nationhood and the Science of the Archipelago

Abstract

NUSANTARANOLOGYThe Imagination of Nationhood and the Science of the ArchipelagoWhy has the archipelago always been studied, yet so rarely allowed to explain itself?For decades, the peoples, cultures, histories, religions, and societies of the Indonesian Archipelago have been examined through anthropology, history, political science, Southeast Asian Studies, Malay Studies, and numerous other disciplines. These approaches have produced an extraordinary body of knowledge. Yet one fundamental question has remained largely unanswered: Can Nusantara become a source of theory rather than merely an object of research?Nusantaranology offers a bold response to this question.Rather than introducing another regional study, this book proposes an entirely new epistemological framework for understanding the Archipelago as a civilizational, intellectual, and cultural system. It argues that Nusantara should not simply be viewed as a geographical collection of islands or a political entity called Indonesia, but as a dynamic world of imagination, cosmology, historical memory, and knowledge production whose intellectual traditions deserve to participate in global scholarship on their own terms.Drawing upon more than two decades of research in anthropology, Islamic studies, Southeast Asian studies, philosophy, history, and political culture, Kamaruzzaman Bustamam Ahmad develops the conceptual foundations of Nusantaranology as an emerging interdisciplinary field. Combining philosophical reflection with comparative cultural analysis, this introductory volume explores how nationhood, civilization, ethnicity, cosmology, and regional identities intersect in shaping the intellectual landscape of the Archipelago.This book examines:• The philosophical foundations of Nusantaranology as a new field of knowledge• The imagination of nationhood beyond conventional nationalism• Culture as an epistemological and civilizational resource• Cosmology and metaphysics in understanding the Archipelago• Comparative perspectives on Malay, Minangkabau, Batak, Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, and other cultural traditions• New directions for interdisciplinary research on Indonesia and Southeast AsiaMore importantly, Nusantaranology is not presented as a finished theory. It is an invitation to scholars, students, and researchers to participate in building an intellectual tradition capable of connecting anthropology, philosophy, history, religion, archaeology, linguistics, cultural studies, and political thought within a shared framework for understanding one of the world's most complex civilizational regions.Written with both conceptual depth and interdisciplinary vision, this volume will appeal to readers interested in:Indonesian StudiesSoutheast Asian StudiesAnthropologyCultural StudiesPhilosophyIslamic StudiesPolitical AnthropologyCivilization StudiesComparative HistoryArea StudiesNationalismKnowledge ProductionDecolonial and Global South StudiesNusantaranology is more than an introduction to a new academic concept. It is the beginning of a wider intellectual conversation about how the Archipelago may understand itself—and contribute its own conceptual vocabulary to the global production of knowledge.