Islam/Saminism Against Racial Capitalism: Confronting Coloniality of Being in North Kendeng Mountains

Heeding Sylvia Wynter’s call to go beyond the contemporary “descriptive statement” of being Man that stands on the racist/classist/patriarchal/colonial/White-Christian centric ontology (Wynter, 2003), this paper analyzes the sociopolitical and religious perspectives of the indigenous community in North Kendeng Mountains of Central Java Province that stand at the intersection of Islam and Saminism (an indigenous religion established within the crucible of anti-colonial struggles in 19th century Indonesia). The paper proposes to see the Islam/Saminism matrix in the life of the North Kendeng indigenous community. It looks at how Islam/Saminism is an affirmation of being human – instead of the hegemonic “descriptive statement” of Man - that is always in relation with Ibu Bumi (lit. Mother Earth). In this way, the paper argues that the Islam/Saminism matrix provides an ontotheological conception of ‘human’ in opposition to what Wynter called as the master code of “Man2,” and serves as an epistemological foundation for being human.