The Myth of Familiarity: Racialization & Intra-Faith Marginalization in Malaysian Islamic Higher Education

Authors

• Rangga T. Nugraha, Hankuk University of Foreign StudiesFollow

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1596-3478

Keywords

international higher education; South–South mobility; neo-racism; symbolic violence; Islamic higher education; autoethnography

Special Issue

Special Issue Summer 2026

Abstract

This article examines how intra-faith marginalization operates within South–South international student mobility, challenging the assumption that shared religion and linguistic proximity facilitate belonging. Drawing on an autoethnographic study of an Indonesian Muslim scholarship student in Malaysian Islamic higher education, the analysis introduces the myth of familiarity as a critical conceptual framing, describing how shared religious or cultural identity may produce more granular hierarchies of legitimacy, thereby contradicting the belief that similarity guarantees inclusion. Using neo-racism and symbolic violence, three narrative vignettes illustrate how hierarchies of piety, nationality, and class are enacted and normalized within a shared Islamic context. The findings show that familiarity does not reduce exclusion but reorganizes it into subtle distinctions of belonging, where acceptance is contingent upon proximity to dominant forms of Muslimness. This study contributes to comparative and international higher education scholarship by showing how sameness itself serves as a mechanism of differentiation in faith-based settings.

Abstract - Translated

Artikel ini mengkaji bagaimana marginalisasi intra-agama beroperasi dalam mobilitas mahasiswa internasional Selatan–Selatan, serta menantang asumsi bahwa kesamaan agama dan kedekatan bahasa mempermudah terbentuknya rasa menjadi bagian dari suatu kelompok. Dengan bertumpu pada studi autoetnografi terhadap seorang mahasiswa Muslim Indonesia penerima beasiswa di perguruan tinggi Islam di Malaysia, analisis ini memperkenalkan konsep myth of familiarity sebagai kerangka konseptual kritis. Konsep ini mengacu pada bagaimana kesamaan identitas agama atau budaya justru dapat menghasilkan hierarki legitimasi yang lebih terperinci, sehingga bertentangan dengan anggapan bahwa kesamaan identitas secara otomatis menjamin seseorang dapat menjadi bagian dari lingkungan tersebut. Dengan menggunakan kerangka neo-rasisme dan kekerasan simbolik, tiga vignette naratif dalam studi ini menunjukkan bagaimana hierarki dalam tingkat kesalehan, kebangsaan, dan kelas sosial dijalankan sekaligus dinormalisasi dalam konteks sesama Muslim. Temuan penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kesamaan identitas tidak serta-merta mengurangi praktik pengucilan, melainkan mengubahnya menjadi bentuk-bentuk yang lebih terselubung, di mana penerimaan seseorang dalam kelompok bergantung pada kedekatannya dengan identitas keislaman yang dominan dalam kelompok tersebut. Studi ini berkontribusi terhadap kajian pendidikan tinggi komparatif dan internasional dengan menunjukkan bahwa kesamaan itu sendiri dapat berfungsi sebagai mekanisme diferensiasi dalam lingkungan berbasis agama.

Abstract - Translated

본 논문은 남–남 국제 학생 이동성 맥락에서 동일 신앙 내부의 주변화가 어떠한 방식으로 작동하는지를 분석하고, 같은 종교 및 언어적 근접성이 소속감 형성을 촉진한다는 통념적 가정에 비판적으로 문제를 제기한다. 말레이시아 이슬람 고등교육에 재학 중인 인도네시아 무슬림 장학생을 대상으로 한 자문화기술지적 연구를 토대로, 본고는 ‘친숙성의 신화’를 핵심적인 분석 개념으로 제시한다. 이는 동일한 종교적·문화적 정체성이 오히려 더욱 세분화된 정당성의 위계를 산출할 수 있음을 논증함으로써, 유사성이 곧 포용을 보장한다는 기존의 인식을 반박한다. 신인종주의와 상징적 폭력의 이론적 틀을 적용하여, 세 편의 서사적 비네트는 공통의 이슬람 맥락 속에서 경건성, 국적, 계급의 위계가 어떻게 수행되고 일상적으로 정당화되는지를 보여준다. 분석 결과, 친숙성은 배제를 완화하기보다 오히려 소속감의 보다 미묘한 차이를 재구성하는 방식으로 작동하며, 수용 여부는 지배적인 무슬림성의 규범적 형태에 대한 근접성에 따라 조건화됨이 드러난다. 나아가 본 연구는 신앙 기반 교육 환경에서 ‘동일성’ 그 자체가 차별화의 기제로 기능할 수 있음을 규명함으로써, 비교 및 국제 고등교육 연구에 이론적·경험적 기여를 제공한다.

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Recommended Citation

Nugraha, Rangga T. (2026) "The Myth of Familiarity: Racialization & Intra-Faith Marginalization in Malaysian Islamic Higher Education," Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education: Vol. 18: No. 5, Article 9.
DOI: -
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/jcihe/vol18/iss5/9