Reviewing Mike Robert Quinlan's Doctoral Dissertation at Bi-Weekly Forum #6 Faculty of Adab and Cultural Sciences UIN Sunan Kalijaga.

On April 16, 2021 Bi-Weekly Forum Faculty of Adab and Cultural Sciences UIN Sunan Kalijaga held a virtual seminar, with theme “Muslim Migrants and Christian Neighbors: Muslim Migrant Religion on Sumba and Timor Islands” delivered by an American speaker, Mike Quinlan. This event was hosted by Febriyanti Dwiratna Lestari, MA as the moderator and lecturer at UIN Sunan Kalijaga.

In his presentation, Mike explained that the migration process could lead to social changes, either changes that came from the host community or changes from the involved migrants.Mike was interested in researching the effect of migration on the religious formation of Muslim migrants in the Province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia through interviews with 108 migrants which were conducted over a period of approximately one year, from February 2018 to February 2019 in Wakaibubak and Anakalang on the island of Sumba, and Kupang, Baun, and Oe'Ekam on the island of Timor. Mike viewed that migration from Muslim-majority areas in Indonesia to East Nusa Tenggara with a Christian majority disrupted the religious and cultural patterns of migrants which could lead to social and religious adaptation in these areas.Mike also wrote that Muslim migrants who became participants could bring positive changes in the religious beliefs of local residents, and could even increase the intensity of religious beliefs and individual freedom from the process of individualization and a high level of socialization.