Open Lecture: Auditing Halal and Standardising Halal Expertise in Indonesia and Malaysia
Dr Eva Nisa from the Australian National University to give an open lecture at UCPH during her visit to Denmark this month. Dr Nisa will present her paper Auditing Halal and Standardising Halal Expertise in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Southeast Asia’s halal (permissible according to Islamic principles) industry is thriving. The presence of Malaysia as the global leader in the halal industry and Indonesia as the world’s largest Muslim-majority country with a significant size of the halal market, is an important driver of the growth of the industry in the region. Drawing on ethnographic research in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang) and Indonesia (Jakarta), from 2021 to 2022, this paper focuses on issues pertaining to the intensification of bureaucratisation of the halal industry.
Both countries have introduced halal audit cultures, aspiring to be the global halal hub. What does the intensification of a halal audit culture mean for the halal actors, business players, consumers, supervisors, auditors and executives? As part of the solidification of a halal audit culture, halal industries in both countries are increasingly dependent on halal experts. The compulsory requirement of companies to appoint a halal executive in order to trade halal products, signifies rigorous governmentality in the name of maintaining global and local halal trust. However, this paper concludes that “producing” halal experts can also mean opening various "promising" avenues for interested parties.
Bio: Dr Eva Nisa is a cultural anthropologist and expert in Islamic studies at the Australian National university. She currently holds an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA (Discovery Early Career Researcher Award). Currently, at the Victoria University of Wellington, she is also Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Social and Cultural Studies, and Honorary Research Associate in the Faculty of Graduate Research. Her research and publications focus on the intersections between religious, cultural, political, economic, legal, social, and philosophical aspects of peoples’ lives. The core of her research is to analyse diverse aspects of how religion functions in the lives of believers.