Abstract: In the wake of 9/11 and the Arab Uprising, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been keen to promote Indonesia as the global model for “moderate Islam.” Through an examination of the Islamic turn in Indonesia's public diplomacy, this paper calls for a critical approach to the category of “moderate Islam” as not only the geopolitical projection of a Western concept, but also as central to efforts for internal religious reform and soft power competition among Muslim-majority nations.

Jim Hoesterey is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Emory University. His research focuses on Islam, media, and the cultural politics of public piety in contemporary Indonesia. Hoesterey’s first book, Rebranding Islam: Piety, Prosperity, and a Self-help Guru, chronicles the rise and fall of celebrity televangelist Aa Gym, and was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2016 Clifford Geertz Book Prize in the Anthropology of Religion. His current research examines diplomacy, soft power, and the making of “moderate Islam.” He has served as Secretary for the American Institute for Indonesian Studies (AIFIS) and board member for the Commission for Visual Anthropology (CVA).