Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Prof. Dr. Setiadi, M.Si approved the collaboration program proposed by Ma’arif Nahdlatul Ulama University Kebumen on July 17, 2023. This program is a collaborative seminar activity with the theme “Cross Cultural Understanding” which involves students of the Indonesian Language and Cultural Learning Service (INCULS) FIB, UGM, and the English Language Education Undergraduate Study Program, FKIP, UMNU Kebumen. This program is intended as a resource assignment for lecturers/teachers who are native speakers of English for enrichment lecture activities. This collaboration is carried out by proposing, organizing, and evaluating collaborative activity programs; which are scheduled for four years.

This program began to be realized on December 23 2023 by holding a Sharing Culture Talkshow event which was held at UMNU University Kebumen. In this event, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences sent several INCULS UGM students, including Sundas Ejaz from Pakistan, Nor Najinah Saad from Thailand, Sabrina Joy S. Tan from the Philippines, Mbemba Badjie from Gambia, and Ahmed Abdallah Faouzi Attia from Algeria. They are students studying culture at INCULS UGM and were accompanied in this series of events by Dr. Rudi Ekasiswanto, M. Hum. as Deputy Coordinator of INCULS UGM and Muhamad Zamchasari, S.S. as INCULS UGM teaching staff.

This event began with a Wayang Golek performance which told the multicultural history of Kebumen and continued with various Kebumen regional cultural performances including Kuda Lumping, Lawet Dance, and Pencak Silat Pagar Nusa by the students. Apart from that, traditional Kebumen culinary delights were also served to all participants. The next session was a talk show and presentation of the culture of each country by native speakers presented through INCULS FIB UGM.

This activity will become an annual program for students taking the Cross Cultural Understanding course organized by UMNU Kebumen together with the UGM Faculty of Cultural Sciences as their final project (UMNU Kebumen). This program aims to implement the Tri Dharma of Higher Education by developing collaborative activities that are mutually beneficial.

On Friday, December 8 2023, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University won second place in the Gadjah Mada University Public Relations Award. This award was given in recognition of the success of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences in the Page Management category. This achievement is the result of dedication and innovation in the public relations program, which involves superior products in six categories, including page management, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, press releases and communication campaigns. This achievement not only strengthens the faculty’s reputation but also becomes an inspiration for the entire academic community in developing innovation in the field of website development at the faculty level.

On Saturday, 9 December 2023, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) held a short trip called Dolan Bareng event in Wanagama Forest, which was attended by FIB exchange students throughout Indonesia and international exchange students who are currently studying at FIB UGM. This activity aims to strengthen the bonds between students while providing an opportunity for refreshing after undergoing the end-of-semester exams.

The students departed from FIB UGM to Wanagama Forest using a bus. Upon their arrival, the group was warmly greeted with welcome drinks and snacks by the tour guide. While the students mingled and enjoyed their snacks, Prof. Dr Setiadi, M.Si., Dean of the Faculty, officially opened the event. The Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, Dr Nur Saktiningrum, S.S., M.Hum, also gave a short briefing before the group started the journey through Wanagama Forest.

Following the path that had been prepared, the group of students explored the Wanagama Forest while getting to know the biodiversity in it. At the end of the trip, they were introduced to the typical Wanagama honeybee cultivation and invited to taste honey directly from the source. The activity was closed with lunch together before the group returned to the FIB UGM campus.

The Dolan Bareng event succeeded in creating valuable moments of togetherness amidst nature, involving students from various regions and countries. In addition, the Dolan Bareng agenda is in line with UGM’s commitment to accelerate the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) point 4, namely Quality Education.

The Asia-Pacific Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage is a triennial scientific meeting that was originally organised in Manila, Philippines by the Asian Academy for Heritage Management. The 2023 Asia-Pacific Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage will be held in Gwangju, South Korea, which is the 5th conference since it was first held in 2011. Asia-Pacific Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage 2023 with the theme “The Ocean Decade Challenges and the Maritime Cultural Heritage of Asia -Pacific” has a discussion panel session related to hot issues regarding the study of maritime heritage and underwater archaeology within the Asia-Pacific.

At this year’s conference, there were 26 panel sessions with researchers, academics and students from 40 countries with 300 participants presenting their research in maritime studies and underwater archaeological heritage in the Asia-Pacific region. Not only presenting, the researchers also published their research in the conference proceedings. In participating in the Asia-Pacific Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage 2023, a Master student of the Department of Archaeology (Muslim Dimas Khoiru Dhony) was awarded as The Best Student Paper with a paper entitled Underwater Archaeological Remains in Matano Lake, South of Sulawesi, Indonesia: Evidence of Iron Age Civilisation in session 15 on The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters. The paper is the result of research conducted by the National Archaeological Research Centre (now BRIN) for 6 years in collaboration with researchers who focus on each field to examine the development of the Iron Age in Lake Matano. The activity is also an effort to carry out Sustainable Development Programs (SDGs) such as SDG 4 (Quality Education) Culture, SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) Culture, SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) Cultural Heritage, and Community and Disaster Risk Reduction.

Komodo National Park, as one of Indonesia’s natural treasures, has attracted the attention of tourists from all over the world. However, behind the charm of the islands and the unique fauna that reside within them, there is a deeper story about the Ata Modo tribe, which has been impacted by the rapid development of the tourism industry in the region. The Ata Modo tribe itself is a community that has inhabited the island of Komodo for a long time, even before the establishment of Komodo Island as the Komodo National Park. With the designation of Komodo National Park and the influx of tourism activities, the Ata Modo tribe experienced changes in their socio-cultural activities. One of them is the shift in the livelihood of the Ata Modo tribe.

The socio-cultural dynamics that occur in the Ata Modo tribe have been seen and investigated in the latest research by a research team that is part of the Student Creativity Program in Social Humanities Research (PKM-RSH) in 2023. This research team is called AtaModo UGM, consisting of Arif Putra Pratama (Faculty of Law 2020), Avicenna Elang (Faculty of Law 2021), An Nuur Khairune Nisa (Faculty of Cultural Sciences 2021), and Noor Risa Isnanto (Faculty of Cultural Sciences 2021). The research team was accompanied by an accompanying lecturer, namely  Dr. Dian Agung Wicaksono, S.H., LL.M. The research was conducted in approximately one week using participant observation methods, in-depth interviews, and searching for secondary sources from various literature and legislation.

The research entitled “Coercive Transformation of Indigenous Peoples: Marginalization of the Komodo Tribe Amid the Hegemony of Komodo National Park Tourism Development” seeks to find out about three things related to the social, cultural, and economic conditions of the Ata Modo tribal community. The research team succeeded in getting direct answers from the Ata Modo tribal community regarding three problem formulations. First, the Ata Modo tribe has cultural potential that can still be maintained and developed according to the needs of the Ata Modo tribe community and related parties who are interested in collaborating. By discovering the cultural potential that still exists in the Ata Modo tribe, the research team realized that this was to Koentjaraningrat’s theory regarding the seven elements of culture consisting of language, knowledge system, social organization, technology, livelihood system, belief system, and art. Second, it was discovered that until now there has been no legal determination of Komodo Village as a Customary Law Community or designation of a Traditional Village, this could result in a conflict of interest and the overriding of the traditional rights of the Ata Modo tribal community. Third, the arrival of the Komodo National Park and the tourism industry has made the Ata Modo tribal community experience a coercive transformation in social, cultural, and economic aspects.

Therefore, through this research, the PKM-RSH team hopes that these findings will provide valuable understanding and considerations for all parties involved in developing Komodo National Park tourism. In this context, special focus is given to the Ata Modo Tribe which is the center of attention, so that they can be actively involved in efforts to protect their cultural heritage and local wealth. This approach is also in line with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 11 regarding sustainable city and community development, in which the Ata Modo Tribe, as a community that has long lived on Komodo Island, also plays an important role.

Writer: Member of the UGM PKM-RSH AtaModo Team