[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-45868-en":3,"doc-seo-45868-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},45868,1099514068035,"Ezra","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",9,"Religion & Spirituality","The Meaning of Dukun and Allure of Sufi Healers: How Persian Cosmopolitans Transformed Malay-Indonesian History","The article traces how the Malay/Indonesian term “dukun” emerged as a Persian-derived loanword and became a charged rhetorical label. It argues that fifteenth-century Persian settlers introduced not only a proto-form of dukun, but also cosmopolitan ideas associated with Sufism, faith, and healing. Over time, orthodox Arab immigrants and Europeans denigrated Sufi healers as “indigenous,” using dukun to contrast Western physicians or “orthodox” Arabs with allegedly inferior indigenous practices, shaping shifting reputations for centuries.","Department of History,National University of Singapore  \nThe meaning of dukun and allure of Sufi healers:How Persian cosmopolitans transformedMalay-Indonesian history  \nAuthor(s):Jennifer W.Nourse  \nSource:Journal of Southeast Asian Studies,Vol.44,No.3(October 2013),pp.400-422  \nPublished by:Cambridge University Press on behalf of Department of History,National  \nUniversity of Singapore  \nStable URL:https://www.jstor.org/stable/43863213  \nAccessed:24-10-201907:20 UTC  \nJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars,researchers,and students discover,use,and build upon a widerange of content in a trusted digital archive.We use information technology and tools to increase productivity andfacilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR,please contact support@jstor.org.  \nYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms &Conditions of Use,available athttps://about.jstor.org/terms  \nDepartment of History,National University of Singapore,Cambridge University Pressare collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Journal of SoutheastAsian Studies  \n# The meaning of dukun and allure of Sufi healers:How Persian cosmopolitans transformedMalay-Indonesian history\n\nJennifer W.Nourse  \nFor contemporary Malay/Indonesian speakers,dukun signifies an indigenous healer.Etymologically,however,the word dukun is not native to Malay/Indonesian.Somesay dukun is Arabic,but this article claims it is more Persian than Arabic.When fif-teenth-century Persian settlers brought the proto-form of the word dukun to theMalay Archipelago,they also brought cosmopolitan notions of Sufism,faith and heal-ing.Eventually orthodox Arab immigrants and Europeans denigrated Sufi healers asindigenous'.Dukun became a rhetorical foil demonstrating how superb Westernphysicians or orthodox Arabs were by comparison.Gradually,the dukun's reputationbecame intertwined with negative attitudes about ‘indigenous'practices.  \n## Framing initial questions:What has dukun meant?\n\nWhile they rarely admit it,over the last century,scholars writing about ethno-medicine and its practices within and around the Malay-Indonesian archipelago¹have often taken for granted the meaning of dukun,which is defined in oneIndonesian-English dictionary as 'shaman,medicine man,healer,sorcerer;Dukunberanak —midwife'2 Dukun is understood to signify indigenous,traditional,andanimist practices.³In the nineteenth century,though,dukun could imply more nefar-ious practices,suggesting dukun were sorcerers'who worked with devils.4  \nJennifer W.Nourse is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Women,Gender and Sexuality Studies,University of Richmond(UR),Virginia.Research for this article was conducted under a Fulbright SeniorScholars Grant,2009-10 and UR Faculty Research Committee Grant.The author thanks WalidHamarneh,Kevin Fogg,Nancy K.Florida,Petra Sijpesteijn,Waruno Mahdi and the anonymousreviewers for comments on various portions of this manuscript.Correspondence should be addressedto:jnourse@richmond.edu.  \n1 Malay,spoken in Malaysia,was coopted by traders and Europeans as a lingua franca in the archipe-lago in the fifteenth century and adopted in the mid-twentieth century by the new Indonesian state as itsnational language,Indonesian.Leonard Y.Andaya,\"The search for the “origins”of Melayu’,Journal ofSoutheast Asian Studies 32,3(2001):322.  \n2 John Echols and Hassan Shadily,rev.and ed.John U.Wolff and James T.Collins,Kamus IndonesiaInggris (Ithaca:Cornell University Press and Jakarta:Gramedia,2006),p.104.  \n3 Clifford Geertz's Religion of Java(Glencoe,IL:Free Press,1963)influenced many anthropologists toassociate dukun with abangan which he defined as 'traditional’.  \n4 Contemporary dukun,such as those I worked with in the 1980s,were regarded more positively(seeJennifer Nourse,Conceiving spirits:Birth rituals and contested dentities among Laujé of Indonesia(Washington,DC:Smithsonian Institution Press,1999).Since 1998,dukun have once again becom","cbCaivrIUSDA6wV9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivrIUSDA6wV9","pdf",827150,6,1,24,"English","en",105,"# Framing initial questions: What has dukun meant?\n# Historical shifts in the meaning of dukun\n## From Persian origins to colonial and orthodox denigration\n## Nineteenth-century public discourse and medical reform","[{\"question\":\"What does “dukun” mean in contemporary Malay/Indonesian usage, and how does the article challenge that assumption?\",\"answer\":\"In contemporary usage, dukun refers to an indigenous healer. The article challenges the assumption that the word is native, arguing it is more Persian than Arabic.\"},{\"question\":\"How did fifteenth-century Persian settlers influence the development of the term “dukun” and related religious ideas?\",\"answer\":\"The article contends that Persian settlers brought a proto-form of dukun to the Malay Archipelago and also carried cosmopolitan notions of Sufism, faith, and healing.\"},{\"question\":\"How did Europeans and orthodox Arabs contribute to negative portrayals of Sufi healers and the reputation of dukun?\",\"answer\":\"They denigrated Sufi healers as “indigenous,” and dukun became a rhetorical foil used to elevate Western physicians or orthodox Arabs while attaching negative attitudes to “indigenous” practices.\"}]",1783467671,60,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"the-meaning-of-dukun-and-allure-of-sufi-healers-how-persian-cosmopolitans-transformed-malay-indonesian-history","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-meaning-of-dukun-and-allure-of-sufi-healers-how-persian-cosmopolitans-transformed-malay-indonesian-history/45868/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-15","2026-07-07",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What does “dukun” mean in contemporary Malay/Indonesian usage, and how does the article challenge that assumption?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"In contemporary usage, dukun refers to an indigenous healer. The article challenges the assumption that the word is native, arguing it is more Persian than Arabic.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"How did fifteenth-century Persian settlers influence the development of the term “dukun” and related religious ideas?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The article contends that Persian settlers brought a proto-form of dukun to the Malay Archipelago and also carried cosmopolitan notions of Sufism, faith, and healing.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"How did Europeans and orthodox Arabs contribute to negative portrayals of Sufi healers and the reputation of dukun?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"They denigrated Sufi healers as “indigenous,” and dukun became a rhetorical foil used to elevate Western physicians or orthodox Arabs while attaching negative attitudes to “indigenous” practices.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,110,114,119,124,127,130,134],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":29,"slug":109},5,"Comic","comic",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]