Dr Fransiska Widyawati is an Associate Professor at the Universitas Katolik Indonesia Santu Paulus Ruteng. She earned her doctorate in Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She has published extensively, inter alia in the Brill Journal of Law, Religion and State, Brill’s Religion & Human Rights and the journal Anthropos. Her research focuses on Catholicism in Indonesia, examining its interactions with Islam and local cultural traditions and laws as well as its impact on social issues. She is one of the voices in Indonesian debates to consider the legal dimensions of interfaith, interchurch and state encounters. This makes her an important conversation partner for scholars at the University of Bonn, which has a strong tradition of “law as culture” and is developing new research initiatives in comparative theology and comparative law and religion to further this tradition.
In Bonn, Fransiska is conducting an in-depth study of the intersection between Catholic marriage law and Indonesia’s civil and customary legal frameworks. Her study, Legal Encounters: Catholic Marriage Law, Civil Authority, and Customary Practice in Indonesia addresses a significant gap in legal pluralism scholarship. Although Indonesia’s diverse legal landscape significantly influences family life and the experiences of its citizens, insufficient attention has been given to the role of canon law in interactions between its various legal systems, including state law, sharia law and customary adat law. This is particularly evident in Flores, Indonesia’s predominantly Catholic island with a 91% Catholic population. Here, the legal landscape is characterised by legal pluralism, where adat law, Islamic law and Catholic canon law intertwine with the formal legal system of Indonesian state law.
She will also deliver a public lecture, lead a research seminar and participate in an international conference. She will engage with colleagues from the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Law, as well as PhD candidates and students, in various contexts and formats.
Bonn International Fellowships are a grant programme designed to invite excellent researchers from all areas of specialisation to spend a period of time at the University of Bonn, involving them in academic life. The fellowships are intended to encourage further collaboration between the fellows and their hosts.