Mapping the “Aksi Bela Islam 212” effect: Redefining identity politics in Indonesian scholarship 2011–2023

Abstract

Although identity politics dominates contemporary debates, little systematic research has examined how its discursive use has narrowed interpretations in Indonesia. This study addresses that gap by tracing shifts in Indonesian academic discourse between 2011 and 2023 through a systematic literature review and content analysis of sixty peer-reviewed articles, using Foucault’s genealogical approach. The findings show that during the baseline period of 2011–2015, identity politics was framed mainly as a cultural and ethnic phenomenon or as the logical consequence of plural democracy. A major rupture occurred in 2016–2017, coinciding with the “Aksi Bela Islam 212” movement and the Jakarta gubernatorial election, when religious identity was electorally mobilised and quickly institutionalised as the dominant academic frame. By 2019, academic discourse overwhelmingly reduced identity politics to a nexus between religion and elections, often framed in terms of polarisation and threats to democracy. Meanwhile, alternative articulations such as gender or ethnic empowerment appeared only sporadically and remained marginalised. This narrowing indicates how Indonesian scholarship has privileged high-profile religious–electoral conflicts over broader, emancipatory understandings of identity politics. The study thus underscores how discourse, power, and knowledge production interact in shaping identity politics in post-authoritarian Indonesia.