Umar Umar Email & Phone Number

I am trained in linguistics and literature (MA), religious studies (MA), Southeast Asian Studies and Critical Theory (PhD). My research pivots around identity, multiculturalism, religion, violence, gender and sexuality, and LGBTQ issues in Indonesia. I wrote a dissertation at the University of California at Berkeley on the bissu, the community of traditional transgender priests of South Sulawesi, in which I trace how the bissu's identity unfolds into narrative characters and plots in the stories of the self they narrate, symbolic resources they choose, and the electronic and print media in which they perform; and how they mange to unite three strands of identity: Islamic, indigenous, and queer. I am prepared to teach broad courses in Islamic studies, religious studies, Southeast Asian studies, indigenous studies, (post) colonial studies, gender and sexuality, queer studies, critical theory, and Indonesian/ Malay literature and oral traditions. I studied classical Islamic studies at an Islamic boarding school (pesantren), completed my BA in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) with a minor in Islamic studies, and MA in linguistics and English literature with cum laude. My MA research on coherence among the Indonesian speakers of English led me to broad issues on language and culture. Receiving research grants from the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, I conducted several research projects on oral traditions in the Muslim and indigenous communities in South Sulawesi. Awarded Fulbright grant, I pursued my second MA in religious studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I continued to a PhD in Southeast Asian studies, the University of California at Berkeley, under Catherine and William L. Magistretti fellowship. Given the postmodern critique element of my research, I decided to obtain training in the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory, a certified program founded by Professor Judith Butler and Professor Martin Jay.