Analyzing Sufi Orders as Social Networks through Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory: Tasawuf in Indonesia's Digital Era
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32699/ppps.v1i01.10939Abstract
The proliferation of digital technology has had massive implications for religious practices, including tarekat (Sufi orders) in Indonesia. Drawing on concepts from Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this article reads tarekat as social networks, highlighting how human, non-human, and hybrid actors come together in shaping Sufi practices today. The study used an ethnographic qualitative method by conducting in-depth interviews with 45 participants, consisting of murshid, murid, and digital media administrator, selected from three major tarekat in Central Java: Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah (QaN), Syattariyah, and Tijaniyah. Fieldwork was conducted among physical zawiyah as well as through virtual platforms such as WhatsApp groups, YouTube channels, and specialized websites over a period of twelve months (January–December 2024). The results show that tarekat networks are established via assemblages of human actors (murshid, murid, khalifah), non-human actors (digital platforms, wirid texts, tasbih), and hybrid mediators (livestreamed rituals and digital ijazah). The act of translation reveals how these diverse actors collaborate to remodel spiritual authority in digital spaces. This paper advances the understanding of how traditional religious organizations negotiate modernity through reconfiguring their network, providing theoretical implications for studying religion-technology intersections in Muslim contexts
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