Yogyakarta, Saturday, March 9, 2024 – The culmination of the 18th annual Korean Day was held by the Korean Language and Culture Study Program of Universitas Gadjah Mada at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. The performers blended the cultures of the two countries through their costumes to adding a touch of Indonesian culture into their performances, for example by performing not only Korean songs, but also Indonesian songs.

This year, Korean Day was themed “Hallyunesia Wonderland” to celebrate Indonesian and Korean culture. The event was also enlivened by performances from various dongari (clubs) of UGM Korean Language and Culture Study Program, namely Samulnori, Hansamchum, Katarsis Sing, Katarsis Dance, Talchum, and Buchaechum. There were food, beverage, and accessory tenants that filled the venue. The Random Play Dance session and the appearance of the guest star, Nadafid, were the highlights of the event. Then, there was also a Noraebang (karaoke) session which also closed the Korean Day 18 event.

The entire series of the 18th Korean Day event is expected to be a source of inspiration for Korean culture lovers, providing a forum for creativity and community while encouraging the preservation of Indonesian culture. In addition, Korean Day is one of the media forms of cooperation with parties who have contributed to the success of the event.

The Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, on Thursday, May 30, 2024, provided training to students, especially the 2023 linguistics master study program on academic writing. The activity was held at the Auditorium of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, and was opened by remarks from the Head of the Linguistics Master Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM, Dr. Suhandano. He also introduced the speakers and activities that would be delivered by the speakers to students. He expressed his gratitude to the speakers who had been willing to share their knowledge. In addition, he also gave advice to students about the importance of this activity to support academic careers, especially the requirements for thesis exams so that students must take a lot of knowledge from these activities.

The first speaker at the Academic writing workshop was Dr. Badli Esham Ahmad. He conveyed the importance of publishing journals for master students and shared tips on choosing journals to be published, namely as follows: Journals that match the theme of the article, be careful with predatory journals, and the need to pay attention to the open access offered by the journal, whether it is paid or not, what the index of the journal is, and how the review process is. In publishing a journal, what needs to be done first is to complete the journal article first, then search and find a suitable journal as a place for publication of the journal article. After finding a suitable journal, make sure the topic, theme, and scope are appropriate, follow the journal’s provisions, and can also send an email to the editor to ensure the topic or theme of the journal article matches the scope requested by the journal.

The second speaker was Prof. Madya Dr. Kamisah Binti Ariffin (S.A.P.). She motivated the students to stay in the process of writing and publishing journals. Her tips were that first, in choosing the title (topic) of the article, we need to see something that is still less researched on the topic, so that the topic will be interesting and unique, different from the research that has been done. Second, we can search for previous research related to the topic through Google to find out the gaps that are still under-researched from the topic. Third, we must look at the scope of a journal, find the appropriate one, and follow the writing guidelines. The event was closed by handing over souvenirs from the Head of the UGM Master of Linguistics Study Program and a group photo.

The Literary Expert Lecture was held on Monday, May 13, 2024 in the Auditorium Room of Soegondo Building 7th Floor and Zoom Meeting at 13.00-16.00 WIB. The three speakers that afternoon were Leila S. Chudori, T.A. Prapancha Hary, Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum. Leila S. Chudori is a retired Tempo journalist and Indonesian writer who has written numerous short stories, novels, and television drama screenplays. Her books that have been published by KPG Publishers are Malam Terakhir, Pulang, Nadira, Laut Bercerita in softcover and hardcover versions, and most recently, Namaku Alam. Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum. is an extraordinary lecturer at the History Study Program, Javanese Literature and Culture Study Program, as well as S2 and S3 Literature Study Programs at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. T.A. Prapancha Hary or familiarly called Mas Tatung, is a clinical psychologist and lecturer at a private university in Yogyakarta, as well as Abdi Dalem Kraton Yogyakarta. He was born and raised in Yogyakarta, pursuing his undergraduate and postgraduate education at the Faculty of Psychology, Gadjah Mada University.

Leila S. Chudori, as the first speaker, explained about her journey in writing the novel “Namaku Alam”. Since the beginning of writing Namaku Alam, Leila planned a storyline that contained a search, identity, and the process of finding answers. This begins with the characterization of the protagonist, the research process for novel writing, the initial design of the basic framework of the story to be written, the formation of the main character and important characters, the finalization of the basic framework of the story, and the concoction of several themes raised in the novel. Leila tries to show that in dark situations there is always hope. For example, Leila tries to show how people who are repressed in the past can still tell their stories through various ways and mediums.

Through the presentation of Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum., he explained that in the novel “Namaku Alam” there are issues such as the entanglement of photographic memory, dystopia, and traumatic memory. The images of utopian successes in the novel, such as freedom from bullying, lead to failure, which in this case becomes dystopia. In “Namaku Alam”, traumatic memories are attempted to be negotiated, however, in this first volume, the negotiation is still unsuccessful, the nightmares experienced in the novel can be read as evidence of this failure. Alam’s strong photographic memory, in this case, makes her unable to escape her past traumatic experiences.

T.A. Prapancha Hary, seeks to answer whether Alam’s trauma can disappear or linger? In “Namaku Alam”, the first volume of the novel, according to Prapancha, the character Alam still retains his trauma. There is always a conflict between Alam and himself. Alam, in this situation, has an oedipus complex. Alam’s behavior, which always tries to protect the people around him, shows how Alam tries to be a “father” figure as a protector described in the oedipus complex phenomenon. Expressive expressions in the form of cursing by Alam in this novel actually show how his disappointment cannot be defeated which is then collected in the form of cursing. The hopes that are still kept by Alam in a difficult situation prove that this character has the talent of good emotional processing.

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The Department of Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture at Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) has once again achieved a prestigious achievement. This time, the Wignyasta UGM group successfully won first place in the Javanese Literature Reporting Competition organized by Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA). The competition took place from November 7, 2023, until the announcement on December 3, 2023, online.

The Javanese literature reporting produced by Wignyasta UGM is titled “Sapa sing Temen, Bakal Tinemu.” In this report, the Wignyasta UGM team interviewed Nini Klenyem, a Javanese literature writer from the past to the present. Nini Klenyem tells the story of her ups and downs in publishing her work. Even though she did not continue her formal education like most people, her strong determination to create brought her works to become more diverse and published until today.

The Wignyasta UGM group consists of four students of Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture from the 2023 class, namely Alma Syahwalani, Bernadetta Rahayuning Tyas, Rachel Aulia, and Dian Nitami.

Etymologically, Wignyasta comes from the word “wignyan,” which means “3 sandhangan panyigeg,” and “asta” which comes from the Javanese word for “hand.” The word “wignyan” is interpreted as having a value of 3, while “asta” is interpreted as having a value of 2, resulting in the number 32. By following the sengkalan system, the numbers are reversed to become 23. “We made it our team name to lift the 2023 Batch,” Alma revealed in an interview on Thursday (December 21, 2023).

The process of creating the report was not without challenges. Alma explained, “In the creation of the report text, we faced the obstacle of having to know and use the appropriate Javanese language level, especially when interviewing Nini Klenyem. We also faced other obstacles such as limited storage on our devices, while we had to revise the work.”

“However, Alhamdulillah, we managed to overcome all of that so that the reportation work was ready to be competed. The creation of this Javanese literature report was also not without the guidance of Ibu Wiwien (Dra. Wiwien Widyawati Rahayu, M.A), our lecturer of the “Introduction to Javanese Literature” course. She also helped in the selection of the interviewee, because we did not have much information about Javanese literature writers,” Alma continued.

With the achievement achieved by Wignyasta UGM, it is hoped that students of the Department of Javanese Language, Literature, and Culture of UGM can continue to improve their skills and knowledge related to Javanese culture, language, and literature. It is expected that students will continue to be enthusiastic in creating, as well as be able to use their time to achieve achievements. This achievement is also in line with point four of the Sustainable Development Goals, Quality Education, which is to provide and develop the quality of education.