This chapter analyses the microlevel of an individuals' processing of migratory experiences and explores the particularities and exemptions in the overall appropriation, rejection, and Othering of Arabness. It highlights two special cases, namely Javanese labor migrants' rejection of Arabness in favor of East Asian styles and Madurese peoples' vivid localizations of Arabness. It also looks at disparities and local features that reveal changes in Islamic lifestyles that cannot be generalized in a culturally heterogeneous country like Indonesia. The chapter refers to the ambivalence of Indonesian engagements with the Arab world. It unravels the question of why migrants and pilgrims in Madura and in Central Java follow different guiding narratives.
Book Review: Indonesians and Their Arab World: Guided Mobility among Labor Migrants and Mecca Pilgrims
