During the 3rd graduation period held on April 24, 2024, four students from the Master’s Program in American Studies graduated. All four are 2021 cohorts of the Master’s Program in American Studies, namely: Diah Prima, Ratu Nadhirah El Sarah, Krisna Sujiwa, and Riza Rahayu Muludi. The discussions in the theses of these four graduates reflect a diversity of topics ranging from political issues, popular culture, social problems, racism, etc. Broadly speaking, the students’ thesis interests in the study program are grouped into two; namely social issues and literature.

Diah Prima’s thesis is titled: American Influence in Japanese Imagination: A Study of Semiotics on Furudate’s Haikyuu!!. This study discusses the influence of America in Japan and the extent of American influence on Haruichi Furudate’s manga Haikyuu!!. Haikyuu!! itself revolves around the theme of volleyball, a sport introduced by America. In addition, there are other aspects that are also American influences in this manga, such as fashion, hairstyle, technology, and cheerleading. Nevertheless, there are still some limitations to American influence in Haikyuu!!, such as politeness, which is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture and remains unaffected by American culture.

Next is Riza Rahayu Muludi’s thesis titled Constructing the Pursuit of Happiness in the Pursuit of Happiness (2006): Roland Barthes’ Semiotic Analysis. This study aims to see how the pursuit of happiness constructs the lives of Americans in the film The Pursuit of Happiness. The pursuit of happiness is part of the American Dream, which means that every American has the right to their happiness. As seen in the film, the character Chris Gardner has his own happiness in achieving success. Furthermore, other characters besides Gardner also have their own happiness.

Ratu Nadhirah’s thesis, which graduated with Cumlaude honors, is titled Representing Islam in American Superhero Series of 2022. This thesis discusses how Islam is represented in superhero series. Conflicts related to Islam in the Western world, especially in the United States, have been ongoing long before the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11). However, the negative representation of Islam worsened after 9/11. This event promoted stereotypes that spread widely through the mass media, forming a set of characteristics used to identify Muslims, such as thick beards, heavy accents, Arab appearance, the use of hijabs, and more. Nonetheless, in 2022 Marvel Studios released its 7th television series titled Ms. Marvel, featuring the first Muslim superhero as the main character in the history of American superhero series.

Lastly, Krisna Sujiwa’s thesis, titled Freedom of Speech in Transnational Dialogue: a Critical Discourse Analysis of Daryl Morey’s Tweet about the Hong Kong Protest, discusses how a tweet from Daryl Morey, an executive of an NBA basketball club, caused issues between the NBA, America, and China, which eventually led to significant problems for the NBA.

These studies are expected to provide an overview of how research is conducted in the Master’s Program in American Studies, as well as what topics or issues can be researched in the field of American Studies. Furthermore, these studies are also expected to serve as references for future research.

The competition that the Tourism & BSO Sastra Oebah Team participated in on May 15-17, 2024 was called the Indonesian Tourism Competition. The competition was held at Bandung State Polytechnic. For the competition itself, as the title suggests, it is related to tourism. However, there are several general branches of competition, one of which is creative dance. The participants were spread throughout Indonesia, although not all of them participated. At that time, the team of students from the Faculty of Humanities, Gadjah Mada University won 3rd place out of 12 participants. Creative Dance Competition is a talent test that focuses on the creativity of contemporary dance movements including harmonization between wiraga, wirasa, wirama, weitra, accompanied by traditional music and modern Indonesian music. With the theme “Revive The Culture of The Land a Thousand Islands”, this competition aims to create a creative dance where participants can perform extinct traditional Indonesian dance performances with modern vibes.

Sastra Oebah is a semi-autonomous body of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, which is engaged in dance (traditional classical and contemporary creations). In 2023, Sastra Oebah was formed to become the new identity and face of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. The beginning of the naming of Sastra Oebah itself is because it is in the Faculty of Letters (Faculty of Cultural Sciences) and Oebah means “moving” which is then elaborated as a symbol that BSO Sastra Oebah is a BSO engaged in dance. The establishment of Sastra Oebah was seen by several students who have potential in the field of dance. In this case, Sastra Oebah is able to realize several implied questions related to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, which is identical to the variety of cultures in it, but does not have an institution/community engaged in this field (traditional classical dance and contemporary creations in particular). The mission of Sastra Oebah itself was formed by not being closed, which means that it is only open to students of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. However, Sastra Oebah opens as many opportunities as possible for non-faculty students if they have an interest in joining Sastra Oebah. interested in joining as part of Sastra Oebah.

On Monday 13th of May 2024, the English Literature Program held an alumni talk with Drs. M. Wahid Supriyadi at Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. Drs. M. Wahid Supriyadi had worked as the Indonesian Ambassador to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus since 2016. The year of 2020 was the year of retirement for Drs. M. Wahid Supriyadi as an Indonesian ambassador.

The Career Talk was attended by all students of the UGM English Literature Program batch 2021, 2022, and 2023. The event was opened by the host Aimar Prabhaswara Dzakri, the President of the English Literature Department Student Association (IMAJI) 2023. The event continued with a warm welcome by the Head of the English Literature Program, Dr. Adi Sutrisno, M.A.

This event aims to enhance students’ understanding of careers in politics and diplomacy. The importance of knowing contemporary issues regarding relations between countries is to create an educated society, strengthen universal solidarity, and be aware of the latest global news. In essence, individuals are part of a large group of people in the world. An individual has a role and contribution to the development and peace of the world.

Story after story was told by Pak Wahid to the students. The story starts from his career journey to the tips given by Pak Wahid to students who want to pursue their career path in diplomacy. He shared tips by saying to broaden the understanding of global issues through reading a lot of the latest news, both those happening in Indonesia and those happening in a worldwide scale.

During the question and answer session, Pak Wahid said that not only students of international relations-related study programs have the opportunity to work in foreign institutions/ministries. He said that anyone can pursue a career as a diplomat, both men and women. He also advised the students to avidly read various books and make reading books a hobby. It is no secret that books can help improve critical thinking, one of the elements needed by students and it is essential in the professional world.

The event ended with the awarding of a book written by Mr. Wahid to one of the student participants who actively asked questions during the activity. The title of the book is Diplomasi Ringan dan Lucu Kisah Nyata. After the awarding session, Pak Wahid and the students took selfies together and had a group photo session.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, 2024, the annual Sasana Debat Mahasiswa (SADEWA) 2024 debate competition organized by the Directorate of Student Affairs UGM through the Sasana Debat Mahasiswa (SADEWA) committee under the auspices of Gadjah Mada Debating Society UGM, was held again. The SADEWA 2024 debate competition was held at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, precisely at the Soegondo Building which lasted for two days. This debate competition consists of Indonesian and English debate competitions, aims as a selection for participation in the 2024 National University Debating Championship (NUDC) and the 2024 Indonesian Student Debate Competition at the National level, as well as increasing talent and critical thinking skills within the scope of Gadjah Mada University students.

The SADEWA 2024 debate competition uses the British Parliamentary (BP) system with one chamber or competition session consisting of four different teams (Government Opener, Opposition Opener, Government Member, Opposition Member) who debate each other within seven minutes and twenty seconds with random motions related to social issues, history, politics, family, and others. In this year’s SADEWA 2024 competition, eight teams from different faculties participated in the English debate competition, followed by twelve teams in the Indonesian debate competition. The activity was held from 08.00 WIB to 17.30 WIB, in two days of activities with the first day there was a special speech from Mugiyarto, S.IP., as Head of the Student Organization and Activities Section, Directorate of Student Affairs UGM.

Friday, May 17, 2024, the Literary Library Community of Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM together with Kognisi, a learning platform from Kompas Gramedia, held a literacy gathering entitled, “Arriving in Yogyakarta” in the green open courtyard of Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. This literacy gathering coincides with the commemoration of National Book Day which occurs every May 17. Participants who took part in the activity did not only come from UGM students, but students from other universities such as Yogyakarta State University and the general public also attended the literacy meeting of Perpustra UGM with Kognisi.

The literacy activity began with the “Celoteh Buku” session, which is sharing stories about books from each participant of the community to be told in front of other participants to hone storytelling skills. Each participant not only explained the summary of the book’s story, but also raised personal opinions from the book he read. After a number of participants told their books, the “Silih Gilir” session began, where each participant packed their respective books into a brown envelope and gave the book to the right side participant continuously until the signal stopped from the moderator, then they would open the envelope containing the book that had been given by the participant next to them randomly and read the book which was then interspersed with a “Read Together” focus time session from the book he got.

On the same occasion, Perpustra also opened a book donation drive open to the community and students with the aim of donating to those in need to help improve regional literacy.