The Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) Universitas Gadjah Mada reaffirmed its presence by participating in the annual Global Edufair held on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. Taking place from 09.00 AM to 06.00 PM Western Indonesia Time, the event successfully captured the attention of thousands of students from all over Indonesia, with the majority of visitors coming from Yogyakarta and its surrounding areas.

As an international-scale education exhibition, this year’s Global Edufair featured more than 80 higher education institutions (exhibitors) from 21 countries worldwide, spanning across Asia, Australia, and Europe. The presence of these global institutions not only enriched visitors’ perspectives but also aimed to build national social capital, enhance the quality of Indonesia’s human resources (HR), and facilitate the younger generation in exploring extensive global study opportunities without losing their local cultural identity.

During the event, FIB UGM occupied a booth inside the GIK Joglo, alongside other participating faculties. Each booth presented an interactive display featuring various pamphlets, academic profiles, and promotional media to assist high school students interested in learning more about the diverse study programs and majors at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences.

High enthusiasm was clearly visible from the students’ visits. “I want to go to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences because it has an Archaeology major, and I’ve been interested in culture since high school,” said a student from SMA Negeri 9 Yogyakarta.

This enthusiasm was also concretely recorded through visitor scan data. This year, a significant increase in visitor numbers was recorded compared to the previous year, with more than 60 people crowding the FIB booth between 09.00 AM and 04.00 PM alone. This high volume of visits serves as a positive indicator that the younger generation’s interest in the fields of culture and literature continues to grow.

Through its participation in this global event, it is hoped that FIB UGM will continue to develop, increasingly become the dream faculty for high school students wishing to delve into cultural sciences and literature, and consistently serve as a comfortable nurturing space to produce outstanding generations supporting an advanced Indonesia.

Author: Humas FIB, Zaidan Abdurrahman

YOGYAKARTA — Ghosts, yellow wallpaper, mobile phones, and Malay manuscripts became entry points for exploring spirituality in literature. Through these diverse objects and experiences, presenters at Academic Student Networking (ASN) 2026, held on Wednesday (October 7), demonstrated that literature is not merely concerned with the beauty of language, but also offers critiques of environmental destruction, power relations, and modern human life.

These discussions emerged during the second and third sessions of ASN 2026, which brought together presenters from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Universitas Diponegoro (Undip), and Universitas Andalas (Unand). Through analyses of novels, short stories, poetry, and Malay manuscripts, the presenters explored how spiritual experiences and various forms of strangeness in literature relate to social and cultural issues.

During the second session, moderated by Dinda Aura Putri, Jusmawati from UGM’s Master’s Program in Literature presented a paper titled “Ghosts as the Personification of Climate Trauma in Ayu Welirang’s Jejak Balak.” She interpreted the ghost figure in the novel as a representation of climate trauma, particularly the anxiety arising from environmental destruction and the threat of ecological disasters.

Jusmawati applied E. Kaplan’s (2015) concept of climate trauma to examine the relationship between forest destruction, land ownership conflicts, and the traumatic experiences of local communities. In her reading, environmental damage not only transforms natural conditions but also disrupts communities’ relationships with customary land, traditions, and their living spaces.

One of the issues highlighted was the conversion of customary forest land into oil palm plantations by PT Zamrud Bumi through bureaucratic manipulation. This practice triggered land tenure conflicts and illustrated how economic pressures could push communities to relinquish their ancestral land.

The logging of teak trees also created an ecological space that had lost its function and meaning for the community. This was interpreted as a form of place alienation, in which an environment that had once been integral to community life became an unfamiliar space.

The threat of flash floods, known locally as galodo, intensified this collective anxiety. In the novel, forest destruction is understood as part of a chain of problems that could lead to wider disasters.

Amid this situation, the figure of Inyak emerges as a spiritual figure whose meaning undergoes a transformation. The appearance of a pair of white beads in the customary forest serves as a warning of impending danger before an ecological catastrophe occurs. Initially understood as a sacred ancestor who safeguards moral values, Inyak later appears as a spectral figure who punishes and spreads death in the disputed territory.

Jusmawati also examined the characters’ past trauma, including an experience in which a character’s father slaughtered animals. This trauma becomes intertwined with violence when the figure of Inyak seems to be appropriated through the killing of loggers using artificial claws. In this interpretation, unresolved trauma develops into destructive terror.

Through this analysis, Jusmawati presents the ghost not merely as a source of fear, but as a personification of climate trauma and the social conflicts accompanying environmental destruction.

Horror and the Weird as Critiques of Power

Horror was explored from a different perspective by a team of presenters from Undip, consisting of Nugrahaning Anindita C., Dennis Audria Permana, and Zainab Al Awwahah. In their paper, “Something Queer: Mark Fisher’s Weird Entities in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’,” they traced the shift from Gothic horror to weird fiction, particularly through Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

The story follows an unnamed female narrator who undergoes the rest cure, a treatment that restricts a patient’s physical and mental activities. She is confined to a room by her husband, John, a physician, and can express her anxiety only through a hidden diary.

In the presenters’ interpretation, the house and its wallpaper are more than mere settings. The long-vacant house, with its history of inheritance disputes, becomes a space that harbors strangeness. Meanwhile, the room, which should provide shelter, instead becomes a space that restricts the narrator’s freedom.

The yellow wallpaper becomes the center of attention when the narrator begins to see a figure behind its patterns. This strangeness gradually expands, seemingly spreading beyond the room and disturbing other spaces in the house.

This reading demonstrates how something considered irrational can challenge rational explanations. John continues to prioritize medical logic, but the narrator’s experiences reveal that the rational framework he uses to understand her may not be sufficient to explain everything she experiences.

The situation is also connected to power relations within the household. As both the narrator’s husband and physician, John has the authority to determine what is considered true about his wife’s condition. By contrast, the narrator has limited opportunities to communicate her experiences and determine her own needs.

By the end of the story, the narrator increasingly abandons her social roles as a wife and mother. Her apparent madness can be interpreted as a form of resistance to a world that restricts her freedom, although the story offers no entirely conclusive resolution.

The discussion then expanded to the relevance of literature in social life. Wahyu Agung Ramdani questioned the extent to which literature can still be used to address political ecology, particularly when literary works remain inaccessible to many regions and book prices pose barriers to readers. He also raised the question of how readers can avoid becoming mere spectators amid the ecological crisis.

Meanwhile, Muhamad Ferdian Syah from UGM questioned the relationship between the narrator’s psychological condition in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the weird experiences she undergoes. He suggested that the pressure caused by the rest cure and John’s treatment should not necessarily be separated from her experience of the weird; instead, the two may develop together and shape one another.

These questions extended the discussion beyond textual interpretation to broader issues of how humans understand trauma, the environment, and experiences that cannot always be explained through established frameworks of thought.

Prayer, Mobile Phones, and the Spirituality of Modern Humans

The discussion of spirituality continued during the third session, moderated by Ann Evelin Rahajeng. Awabeen Samsuding from UGM’s Master’s Program in Literature presented a paper titled “Reading Prayer in Joko Pinurbo’s Poetry: The Aesthetics of Irony as a Critique of Modern Human Spirituality.”

Awabeen examined how poet Joko Pinurbo presents prayer through everyday objects and activities. While religious poetry is often associated with solemn and sacred atmospheres, Pinurbo’s poems bring spirituality into spaces closer to modern life, including mobile phones, the human body, and cosmetics.

The research examined three poems: “Doa Orang Sibuk yang 24 Jam Sehari Berkantor di Ponselnya” (2018), “Doa Sebelum Mandi” (2000), and “Doa Seorang Pesolek” (2001).

For Awabeen, irony in these poems is not merely a linguistic device, but an aesthetic strategy for exposing contradictions in human life. Through irony, readers are encouraged to move beyond literal meanings and reconsider habits and beliefs that have long been taken for granted.

In “Doa Orang Sibuk yang 24 Jam Sehari Berkantor di Ponselnya,” for example, the protagonist loses all their contact numbers when their phone breaks but still has God’s number saved. The irony emerges when God reveals that His number is, in fact, the only one the protagonist never calls.

This situation critiques a modern life in which people have unlimited access to communication but may fail to maintain their spiritual connections. The mobile phone, a symbol of connectivity, also reveals the possibility of alienation from what is considered the most fundamental relationship.

Meanwhile, “Doa Sebelum Mandi” was examined through the issues of the body and violence. In Awabeen’s presentation, experiences of violence embedded in the body cannot necessarily be erased through physical cleansing alone.

“Doa Seorang Pesolek,” meanwhile, explores the relationship between the body, cosmetics, and mortality. Through irony, excessive attention to physical appearance is juxtaposed with the reality that human life remains finite.

To examine these issues, Awabeen drew on Y.B. Mangunwijaya’s concept of religiosity and Wayne C. Booth’s theory of stable irony. Using a qualitative approach and close reading, the study sought to demonstrate how poetry can critique modern spirituality without abandoning the everyday objects that are familiar to contemporary life.

Spirituality and Locality in the Malay Manuscript Syair Kupu-Kupu

Also during the third session, Afifah Chairunnisa and Aditya Fiandra from Unand presented a paper titled “Negotiating Spirituality and Locality in the Manuscript Syair Kupu-Kupu.” Their research applied Roland Barthes’s semiotic approach to examine the ideology embedded in the Malay manuscript, identified as Schoemann V 40.

Recognizing the importance of preserving the values contained in ancient manuscripts, the study examined their allegorical and symbolic dimensions, which allow them to be interpreted as more than written texts. The relationship between spirituality and locality was a central concern, particularly in understanding how cultural symbols and values intertwine within a literary work.

Using Roland Barthes’s semiotic approach, the researchers identified several local symbols. Mount Ledang and Mount Anta Sujana, for instance, are interpreted as sacred spaces, while songket textiles, keris daggers, betel leaves, and scarves represent honor, social status, and commitment. Meanwhile, references to Allah and the phrase “with Allah as the reason,” alongside various rituals, demonstrate how spirituality serves as a foundation for human actions and everyday life.

The study also examined how customs, etiquette, and honorific forms of address, such as Datuk, Tuanku, Kakanda, and Adinda, reinforce social structures. These findings indicate that spirituality and locality do not exist independently; rather, they shape one another in maintaining the values, ethics, and worldview of Malay society. Thus, Syair Kupu-Kupu preserves not only literary heritage but also records how Malay society understands the relationship between belief, tradition, and social life.

The discussions in the second and third sessions of ASN 2026 demonstrated various ways of interpreting spirituality in literature. Through ghosts in novels, weird phenomena in horror fiction, irony in poetry, and symbols in Malay manuscripts, the presenters showed that literary works can serve as spaces for questioning the relationships between humans and nature, power, the body, belief, and cultural traditions.

Through their diverse approaches, the discussions positioned literature not merely as an object of aesthetic study, but also as a means of understanding persistent issues in society.

Author: Khotibul Umam

Yogyakarta, October 14, 2026 — Good news has once again arrived from the alumni of UGM’s Korean Language and Culture Study Program. In 2026, two alumni successfully passed the selection process for the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS). This fully funded scholarship from the South Korean government provides them with a golden opportunity to pursue their studies at a higher level. Undoubtedly, there was a long journey and thorough preparation behind their success. What are their stories and how did they prepare for the selection stages? Let’s dive into their journey!

Name: Dinda Saraswati Jillaningtyas (Yayas) (2017)
Host University: Ewha Women University (Communication and Media)

“2019년의 나는 상상도 하지 못한 일이었다” Semua pasti akan ada waktunya. 2019 Aku pernah gagal untuk mendapatkan beasiswa GKS ke Korea untuk exchange. Tapi siapa yang tahu kalau 2026 aku berhasil mendapatkan GKS-G one shot. Mungkin saat itu memang bukan jalanku dan mungkin S2 ini memang jalanku. 너무나도 감사한 일이기도 하고 힘든 길로 선택하는 걸로 잘 알고 그 고독한 길로 선택하는 거는 나였으니까 2년동안 열심히 공부하면서 재밌고 보람이 있는 모험으로 해보겠습니다. 좋은 기회였기에 더 좋은 모습으로 성장하겠습니다! Kalau saat itu kalian sudah berusaha keras namun hasilnya mengkhianati kalian, mungkin memang belum waktunya saja. Semangat selalu!”

Name: Putri Puji Hasnah (2020)
Host University: KDI School of Public Policy and Management (Master of Development Policy)

“I once asked God to redirect my life. Maybe GKS is the answer to my prayers. I never expected that I would finally make it here, but I strongly believe there will be many ways to turn the pure intention I have carried with me into something meaningful, to bring as much benefit as I can to the people and the world around me. Pursuing a completely different major for my master’s might be challenging. It might even feel like I’m starting from zero. But God has entrusted me with what I once prayed for, and I choose to take it as a sign to keep going.”

Kak Putri juga membagikan tips and trick, nih, untuk para pejuang Beasiswa GKS selanjutnya!

“Make the most of your privilege. Some people spend years working toward their dreams. I worked for almost two years to save enough money to finally apply for a master’s scholarship. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but even pursuing a scholarship requires a certain level of privilege. Still, keep holding on to your dreams. What’s meant for you will find its way to you.”

Those were the stories and preparation tips from our two seniors regarding the 2026 GKS selection. Once again, congratulations on your studies in South Korea! We wish you good health and smooth sailing with all your endeavors there~ For fellow BKK UGM students who want to follow in their footsteps, don’t hesitate to start gathering application information as early as possible. Keep your spirits up, and see you in our next scholarship update! ^^

(Salwa Aulia, Alma Naya)

Yogyakarta, 14 September 2026 – Right on that day, six students from the Kemitraan Negara Berkembang (KNB) scholarship arrive at INCULS from their respective countries. They were there to attend the program’s opening ceremony as well to kick off their first day studying here. Our long awaited friends finally set foot at Fakultas Ilmu Budaya (FIB), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM).

To start a new semester in a new and foreign environment is definitely not an easy thing to do. Feelings like anxiety, loneliness, and worry are definitely there. One of the purposes of the opening ceremony is to make them feel at ease and relieve them from those negative feelings. With the main purpose being International Student Orientation (ISO) and briefing for the time they will spend in Indonesia. As they will spend their next year here in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. INCULS will be their guardian as well as their friend, also will make their stay in Jogja, enjoyable.

At INCULS, the Indonesian Language is not the only thing we teach. Even though it is true that most of our students come to learn Bahasa Indonesia, lessons and exposure to Indonesian culture is also something INCULS provides. With many invaluable chances to have a firsthand experience within Jogja. Study tours and many more exciting activities.

At this ceremony, information such as the curriculum and getting to know the tidbits of Jogja were shared for the convenience of INCULS’ new BIPA students. Often overlooked things like the cuisine in Jogja; the daily things in Jogja; the norms in Indonesia; and so on. Our students are prepared immediately with information that will certainly help them for the time they will have in Indonesia.

INCULS hopes the KNB Program could provide top notch education for our BIPA friends to push them to grow and become bridges that connect the world. Not just the language, the culture that they will experience here in INCULS to be of great use in their life. Good luck on your studies friends, there will be a point where things are going rough, but keep your head high and push on!

Ditulis oleh: Dydo Athaya Rafif dydoathayarafif@mail.ugm.ac.id