Retsikas Wins Grant to Study Markets, Morality and Muslims on Java
16 December 2010
Dr Kostas Retsikas, from the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, has been awarded a three-year research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The £250,000 grant has been awarded for his project entitled Cultivating Generosity: Islam, the ‘Gift Market’ and the Middle-Class in Indonesia, which will investigate Muslim subjectivities in Indonesia in the context of the deepening Islamisation and commodification of the country’s economy.
The research is an ethnographic study of the ways in which the inhabitants of the island of Java deal with market neo-liberalism and Muslim conceptions of moral behaviour. It will look at how they support charities and behave in a charitable manner in their everyday lives.
Dr Retsikas, who has previously carried out research on migration, ethnicity and the body in East Java, will carry out the research in Indonesia for twelve months, beginning in January. He plans to use his research as the basis for a monograph and to edit a collective volume.
The ESRC is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high-quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector.
