Yogyakarta, February 13, 2026 – The Faculty of Cultural Sciences at Universitas Gadjah Mada held a screening of When The Water Horse Seeks A New Home at the 7th Floor Auditorium of Soegondo Building on Friday (13/2) at 2:00 p.m. WIB. The event was attended by Cultural Anthropology students of the Faculty and presented a cinematic work that traces the journey of Rohingya refugees through the story of a small object washed ashore on the coast of Aceh.

Written and directed by Andrianus Oetjoe Merdhi, the film is based on the discovery of a small plastic animal figurine left behind on an abandoned boat once used by Rohingya refugees. The vessel was found stranded on a remote beach in Aceh, nearly two thousand kilometers from the figurine’s place of origin. The small object serves as a silent marker of human movement, loss, and resilience amid displacement.

According to its synopsis, the film follows the object’s journey across oceans and borders in search of its owner. This search unfolds the human story behind the experiences of refuge and forced displacement endured by the Rohingya community.

The project was co-produced by Gerhard Hoffstaedter of the University of Brisbane. The production received support from the University of Bielefeld and Volkswagen Stiftung. The screening, attended by Cultural Anthropology students of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, provided a space for discussion on migration, identity, and collective memory. Through a reflective visual approach, the film invites audiences to understand the human dimension of cross-border displacement.

By focusing on a simple object, the film underscores that every trace left behind holds a story. Revisiting such traces becomes an important step in fostering empathy, broadening perspectives, and sustaining humanitarian values amid ongoing global dynamics.

[Public Relations of FIB UGM, Candra Solihin]

The Japanese Language and Culture Student Association (HIMAJE), Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, through its culinary community Hiryou Aikai, held a group cooking session to celebrate the completion of the End-of-Semester Final Exams. The activity took place on 20 November 2025, from 13:00 to 15:00 WIB, at the Soegondo Building corridor area, and was designed in a relaxed, picnic-style setting as a refreshing moment of togetherness after the exam period.

Hiryou Aikai serves as a platform for HIMAJE members who have an interest and talent in cooking. Through this community, members can channel their culinary creativity while improving their cooking skills in a collaborative and enjoyable atmosphere. Activities like this also help strengthen connections among students through simple yet meaningful shared experiences.

In this session, participants cooked gyudon, a popular Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of warm rice topped with thinly sliced beef and onions simmered in a sweet and savory sauce. The cooking process was carried out together—from ingredient preparation to plating—creating a warm, lively, and enthusiastic atmosphere throughout the event.

This cooking activity not only provided a fun way to unwind after final exams but also encouraged students to learn through hands-on experience while fostering a supportive community environment. Through similar initiatives, Hiryou Aikai is expected to continue serving as a creative space that enriches students’ organizational experience and promotes positive activities that support well-being and personal development within HIMAJE UGM.

Author: Barra Taura Nursaid

On the 27th of November (the awarding night of the 38th Pekan Ilmiah Mahasiswa Nasional (Pimnas) held in Universitas Hassanudin, Makassar), a bachelor student of Cultural Anthropology from UGM contributed to the medal count of Universitas Gadjah Mada. Muhammad Syukur Shidiq – commonly known as Syukur – and his team earned a silver medal for the poster category of the PKM-RSH 2 class. Their research, titled Antara Safe Space dan Toxic Space: Studi Ekologi Media terhadap Komunitas Marah-Marah di Media Sosial X, applies the concept of media ecology coined by Marshall McLuhan to study the Komunitas Marah-Marah, a community established on X (formerly Twitter).

Komunitas Marah-Marah is viewed as a communal space with two sides, both contradicting each other. This community provides room for freedom of emotional expression (specifically anger, as the name suggests) for its members while giving them affirmation from fellow members. At the same time, negative actions such as cyberbullying, hate speech, and discrimination are also rampant in the space. What started out as a small community has tripled in size in the span of a year. The results of this research can hopefully be used as a contribution to increase digital literacy among the Indonesian digital community, along with creating a safe online space for users and as consideration for policy makers to create better online policies.

As an anthropology student, there are a few lessons Syukur picked up during his Pimnas research. The discipline of anthropology plays a role in understanding Komunitas Marah-Marah as a living digital environment, filled with members with various cultures and perspectives. X as a social media is viewed as an ecology that shapes and influences how people express their emotions. The existence of this community helps shape the understanding of how anger grows and evolves into its own culture in a digital context.

During four months of Pimnas research, Syukur learned some valuable lessons for himself, as a person and as a researcher. Along with getting the opportunity to experience field research first-hand, Syukur learned to collect, sort, and process ethnographic data while working in a systematic workflow. This opportunity gives him the chance to train his cultural intuition and reflectivity as an anthropologist. He also learned to be committed to a research project and working in a multidisciplinary approach. His team members consisted of fellow bachelor students Muh Faiq Fauzan, Fanisa Ratna Dewi, Debora Magdalena Marchya Sihombing, Muhammad Syukur Shidiq, and Adelia Pradipta Nasyaputri. They hail from various departments of social sciences, such as Communication Science, Social Development and Welfare, Philosophy, and Psychology; each with their own methods and perspectives, collaborating towards the same goal to reach a better understanding of a dynamic socio-digital environment.

Author: Amadeus Abhirama Paramanindita

Yogyakarta, 3 December 2025 — A total of 68 first-year students from the Arabic Study Program at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) attend an outing class at Wisdom Park UGM on Wednesday, 3 December 2025. The activity, titled Lu’bah Arabiyyah, served as a collaborative program for Arabic Writing, Arabic Speaking, and Tasrif courses to help students review lesson material through interactive games while refreshing their minds ahead of final exams. The event was accompanied by lecturers from the Arabic Study Program and supported by student tutors from the 2022 and 2023 cohorts.

During Lu’bah Arabiyyah, students are invited to do a series of game stations set up across Wisdom Park. Each game required them to actively use and recall their Arabic skills in preparation for the final exams. Among the activities were Sentence Relay, Puzzle Tasrif, and Arabic crossword puzzles. After completing all stations, the outing concluded with a communal meal and a shared rujak session with lecturers.

The 2025 cohort participated enthusiastically from start to finish. Many students expressed that Lu’bah Arabiyyah boosted their confidence and motivation ahead of the Final Examinations, as the activities helped them recall and reinforce material learned throughout the semester. Beyond academic preparation, the event also strengthened collaborations and intimacy among students, tutors, and lecturers, which is an important foundation for smoother communication and collaboration in future learning processes.

Author: Muhammad Ardiansyah

Yogyakarta, 13 November 2025 — The Master’s Program in Middle Eastern Cultural Studies (KBTT) at Universitas Gadjah Mada, in collaboration with the Arabic Study Program, hosted an International Public Lecture titled “Scepticism and Tolerance: A Case from Premodern Islamic Thought.” The event featured Prof. Ayman Shihadeh, a distinguished scholar of Islamic intellectual history from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Held at the Soegondo Auditorium, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, the lecture was also livestreamed via the Arabic Study Program’s YouTube channel, allowing broader public access. The session was moderated by Tohir Mustofa, M.A., lecturer of the Arabic Study Program, and attended by students from both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

This public lecture highlighted the strategic synergy between the KBTT Program and the Arabic Study Program UGM, reaffirming their shared commitment to bringing world-class academic discourse to students and the wider community. Through its YouTube livestream, the event aimed to reach a wider audience, strengthen public intellectual literacy, and foster a culture of critical and constructive dialogue.

The lecture also supported key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) through accessible high-quality academic learning, SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by promoting values of tolerance and dialogue, and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) through interdisciplinary academic collaboration.

Author: Muhammad Ardiansyah