SDGs 4: Quality Education | SDGs 14: Life Below Water | SDGs 15: Life on Land | SDGs 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The XXIX National Cultural Gathering was successfully organized by I Gusti Bagus Sugriwa State Hindu University (UHN) which took place on Sunday-Friday, from November 5th until 10th, 2023. The theme of the 2023 National Cultural Gathering was “Sabda Budaya: Mukhti Luwir Nihan Segara”, which means “Cultural Echoes: Thundering like the Ocean”. The theme intends to highlight the richness of Indonesian culture that is still thundering amid the current era of globalization. The activity lasted for five days with various agendas including the National Deliberation, Wimbakara (Competition), and National Seminar. It ended with the Awarding Night as well as the closing of the XXIX National Cultural Gathering activities.

In this XXIX National Cultural Gathering, the Javanese Language, Literature and Culture Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), sent eight delegates to participate in the entire series of events. The UGM delegation consists of Nurma Aisyah (class of 2021) as the head of the delegation, Vighna Rivattyannur Hernawan (class of 2020), Bima Muslih Wicaksono (class of 2022), Haryo Untoro (class of 2022), Kintan Dewinta Putri (class of 2022), Muhammad Siswoyo (class of 2022), Alma Syahwalani (class of 2023), and Meifira Arini Pitaloka (class of 2023).

There were six contested activities, including the Cultural Parade, National Scientific Writing Competition (LKTIN), Poetry Musicalization Competition, Comic Strip Competition, Cultural Tiktok Competition, and Cultural Reportage Competition. Of the six competitions, the delegation of Universitas Gadjah Mada won five competitions, including:

• 1st place in the Cultural Reportage competition (Alma Syahwalani)

The Cultural Reportage competition raised the theme of Taman Sari Yogyakarta, a historic water garden site, as a reflection of the splendor and majesty of Indonesian culture that is passed down to this day.

• 2nd place in the National Scientific Writing Competition (Haryo Untoro and Muhammad Siswoyo)

The National Scientific Writing Competition entitled Reflection of the Entity of the Agrarian Tradition in the Track Record of Cowongan Song Verses, raised the Cowongan ritual song verses as material objects that contain elements of agricultural in the form of various plants and animals. The elements are then associated with their classification in Javanese culture and reveal the inheritance related to the name of the agrarian elements and the agrarian mythology behind them.

• 2nd place in Comic Strip competition (Meifira Arini Pitaloka)

The Comic Strip competition with the theme “environmental conservation based on local wisdom” tells the story of young people who want to reforest by paying attention to the philosophy of these plants.

• 3rd place in the Poetry Musicalization competition (Nurma Aisyah and Bima Muslih Wicaksono)

The Poetry Musicalization Competition raised the theme “Sabda Budaya: Mukhti Luwir Nihan Segara” brought poetry created by Muhammad Siswoyo about the beauty and majesty of the nation’s culture. The poem was performed with a recitation combined with singing and musical accompaniment, thus mesmerizing the other participants.

• 3rd place in Tiktok Nusantara competition (Kintan Dewinta Putri)

Cultural Tiktok competition featuring traditional games, including Dakon or Congklak, Clogs, and games accompanied by dolanan cublek-cublek suweng songs.

The achievement of the UGM Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture Study Program in winning various competitions is a concrete manifestation of UGM Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture Students in promoting, appreciating, and preserving the diverse cultures and traditions in Indonesia.

With the existence of the XXIXth National Cultural Gathering activities, it is hoped that they will motivate students to be interested in promoting this cultural heritage and tradition. Furthermore, this National Cultural Gathering activity can strengthen relationships between students of regional literature study programs throughout Indonesia and implement sustainable development goals, especially in improving the quality of education, extracting local wisdom that is in tune with the ecosystem, and working together to preserve and explore the nation’s cultural potential.

We would like to thank all those who have participated in the success of this event. Hopefully, Imbasadi can continue to accommodate students majoring in regional literature throughout Indonesia in developing and preserving the nation’s culture.

Indonesia is diverse, and Imbasadi unites.

SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions | SDGs 16: Accountable institutions | SDG 10: Reduced inequalities | SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth | SDG 5: Gender equality: Feminism

Prof. Dr. Ida Rochani Adi, S.U. was a Professor in the field of American Studies, Department of Intercultural Studies, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University. Before becoming a professor in this field from 1995 until now, she started his career as a lecturer in 1980 in the Master of Management study program for 15 years. Gadjah Mada University could be said to be a second home for her. How could it not be, she has been part of this university since taking undergraduate studies from 1976 to 1980 majoring in English. From 1985 to 1987, she continued her studies in a master’s program in American studies. Then from 2000 to 2003, he took his doctoral program at Gadjah Mada University. Because of all this, she received the UGM 25 Years of Loyalty award two years in a row, in 2007 and 2008.

Time flies so fast. Now she is at the end of his service and entering her retirement period. To appreciate her services and provide memorable memories, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences team consisting of lecturers, staff, alumni and students prepared special events and offerings as a form of love and gratitude. The event was presented in the form of a seminar on Monday, February 19 2024 at the Soegondo Building Auditorium, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University. At this event, her work in the form of a book she wrote was dissected and became a souvenir for everyone who attended. She also received song offerings, greetings and gifts from his colleagues. In her speech, she felt very grateful and did not expect that she would get so much love from the people around him.

SDG 4: Quality Education | SDGs 4: Education for sustainability | SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure | SDGs 9: Economic development | SDG 10: Reduced inequalities | SDGs 10: Business | SDG 17: Partnerships for goals | SDGs 17: Fostering innovation

All prospective graduates will definitely feel happy and relieved because they have completed the difficult tasks they undertook during college, especially their thesis. However, they will face the next struggle after graduating from college. They will start a new life which of course will have increasingly difficult and numerous challenges. The reality of life that does not always match what they want requires fresh graduates to really prepare themselves by planning what they will do after graduating. Realizing the anxiety felt by prospective alumni, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University held soft skills training for prospective graduates the day before graduation day to prepare human resources who are ready to face the world outside campus.

Tania Nugraheni Ayuningtyas, is a successful young entrepreneur who graduated from the Tourism study program at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences who is currently continuing her postgraduate studies at the Agribusiness Management study program at Gadjah Mada University with an LPDP scholarship. The twists and turns of her journey in achieving success can be a motivation and lesson for anyone who just wants to start a business, this is what makes her worthy of being a speaker at this training in front of undergraduate graduate candidate which will be held on Tuesday, February 20 2024 at the Faculty of CulturalScience Auditorium, Gadjah Mada University. Before finally she succeeded as owner & director of CV. Slamet Jogjamu Indonesia and also Co-Founder & Finance Manager of PT. Waturanda Destination, she experienced failure and even fraud. But that didn’t make her give up, in fact these incidents encouraged her to continue learning and thinking to be better.

That afternoon, she shared her valuable knowledge about how to start a business. According to her, there are three important things that must be done, namely Learn, Build and Measure. Learn, namely gathering understanding about the target market, customers and problems that need to be solved, as well as creating hypotheses to test on the market. Build is building a product or service simply and quickly. And the last thing that entrepreneurs rarely remember but is very important is Measure, which is actively collecting data and feedback from users so that it is possible to measure product performance. With the knowledge she shared, she hoped that prospective graduates will be ready to face the new world after graduating and can plan carefully for the future.

SDG 4: Quality education | SDGs 4: Education | SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth | SDGs 8: Culture | SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Adaptable | SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions | SDGs 16: Education | SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals | SDGs 17: Fostering Innovation

The title of this Public Lecture succeeded in attracting the attention of students from the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University who were interested in concentrating on translation to attend the Multimedia Room on the 2nd floor of the Margono Building on Tuesday 20th of February 2024. Students from various levels and classes as well as lecturers filled the room from 9 am to gain new knowledge about translation from extraordinary sources in their field. The resource person is the Head of Pacific and Asian Students from the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). Before presenting his material, he expressed his deepest gratitude to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences for supporting his research and to the students who were willing to take the time to attend the general lecture.

The material opened by explaining the meaning of translation so that public lecture participants knew the basic knowledge first before discussing translation and its problems in more depth. The use of differentiation in each concept of religion and atma was one of the problems in translation where there might be a language transformation adapted from the old concept to the new constitution. On the issue of religion and atma, there were a number of terms and other languages that were trapped in language transformation efforts. The presenter delivered the material in a way that was easy to understand, namely by relating it to examples found in everyday life based on the presenter’s personal experience. From the presentation given, he concluded that the use of linguistics, especially in the field of translation, could not be separated from concepts in everyday life.

Prof. Dr. Faruk HT., moderator at this public lecture, closed by providing a simpler conclusion that there were three important points that could be noted. First, translation as a crossing of meaning. This does not only apply to interlanguage translations but also between languages, for example between one group and another. Second, the concept of metaphor is conveying something with another meaning. This meaning can also be reversed, that is, conveying the meaning with a different name or sign. Third, meaning is a fluid process that can change from one place to another, from one case to another, such as in the case of religion and atma. Finally, the question and answer session was led by a different moderator, namely Dr. Arsanti Wulandari, M. Hum.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals | SDGs 17: Global partnership | SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institution | SDGs 16: Conflict resolution | SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Community

On Tuesday, February 13th 2024 at 1 until 3 pm, the UGM Japanese Language and Culture Study Program held a public lecture on the topic “Will Japan become a ‘normal country’?: Changes in the Defense Debate Before and After the Outbreak of The Ukraine War ” which was delivered by researchers and teaching staff at the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies from Kobe University, (Ass. Prof.) Masato Nakahara. This Public Lecture was the opening for the 2023/2024 even semester lecture activities which were attended by lecturers and students of the Japanese Language and Culture Study Program, as well as students from outside the study program who were interested in Japanese issues.

In the first part, Nakahara-sensei explained the history of the formation of the Jieitai (Japanese Self-Defense Forces) after Japan’s defeat in World War II and changed in the position of the Jieitai during the Allied occupation as regulated in the Showa Constitution which was in effect to this day. The restrictions on Jieitai activities regulated in the Showa Constitution meant that Japan’s military activities were very limited, including when there was a war outside Japan, such as Russia’s war with Ukraine, which is still ongoing today. Japan’s position in relation to security and world peace is a dilemma because sending war troops abroad violates the mandate of the Shouwa Constitution, while on the other hand the international world wants Japan to play an active role in sending war troops. Especially in the current era where changes in the global political constellation after the Cold War are increasingly dynamic and real, Japan, which is required to always prioritize peace as mandated by the Shouwa Constitution (Heiwa Kenpou), needs to look for new interpretations so that it can become a ‘normal’ country, namely a country that on the one hand can maintain sovereignty, and on the other hand can play a role in world peace. After the presentation session by Nakahara-sensei, the public lecture continued with a discussion and question and answer session which was very dynamic and filled with various questions from the public lecture participants regarding Japan’s attitude and position in relation to international conflicts, geopolitical changes in East Asia and Indonesia.

Understanding the position of Japan in the context of global change is considered important for the study program’s academic community because apart from being a means of updating information related to current issues regarding the country of Japan, it is also a means of learning and inspiration for research themes concerning Japanese issues. More than that, through forums like this, cooperation between study programs and foreign institutions can be further enhanced and can become a means for study programs to facilitate their academic community to be able to move more globally, in accordance with one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), namely developing global partnerships for development.