On June 14, 2026, Professor of Anthropology at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Prof. Pujo Semedi, had the opportunity to serve as a speaker in the public lecture series titled “Wissen über den Wald im Wandel” (Knowledge About the Forest in Transition). This academic event, which runs throughout the 2026 summer semester, is part of the prestigious Studium Generale program at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
This international-scale event is collaboratively organized by the WWW 4.0 research project and the Cluster of Excellence “Future Forests — Adapting Complex Social-ecological Forest Systems to Global Change.” The forum specifically brings together leading scientists and practitioners from various disciplines to present their research perspectives on forest landscapes. Its primary focus is examining the diversity of approaches to knowledge in addressing the profound changes and challenges that the global climate crisis brings to forest ecosystems and their ecological services, as well as exploring viable adaptation strategies.
During the forum, Prof. Pujo Semedi presented alongside Prof. Michaela Haug from the University of Freiburg. Together, they delivered a presentation adopting a socio-ecological anthropological perspective, titled “Meanings of Forests: A Collaborative Comparative Ethnography Between Indonesia and Germany.”
This study highlights a comparison of how forests are culturally, socially, and economically conceptualized by communities in two distinct national contexts. Through collaborative comparative ethnography, they invited the audience to explore the dynamic relationship between humans and nature, as well as how communities practically respond to ecological transformations on the ground.
Author: Daiva Keefe Kalimasadha
