Bachelor student of Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Ida Ayu Purnama Novanka Larasati, who is familiarly called Dayu, recently recorded a brilliant achievement in the world of acting. Dayu won 2nd place in the Playwriting Competition at the 2024 National Student Arts Week (PEKSIMINAS) held at Jakarta State University on September 4, 2024. The event lasted for one week, from September 2-7, and was attended by participants from 24 provinces, including West Java, West Sumatra, Maluku, and Kalimantan.

As a student who is active in arts activities, Dayu has been involved in theater since high school grade 1. Currently, she is also active in Teater Gadjah Mada as Coordinator of Human Resource Development, where her duties include developing members’ skills and managing external and internal projects. In her role, she and her team have successfully organized external projects with Pionir UGM 2024 and Gelanggang Expo 2024, as well as participated in events such as “Agustusan with TGM” and PEKSIMIDA DIY 2024.

Her extensive experience in theater, from directing, to writing, to backstage, has strengthened her skills in leadership and teamwork, which is evident in the various projects she has managed. Her win at PEKSIMINAS adds to her list of prestigious achievements in the field of literary and acting arts. With this achievement, she became one of the outstanding students of the Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

On Thursday, September 25, 2024, the Japanese Language and Culture study program welcomed guest lecturers from Padjadjaran University. The arrival of the lecturer from Padjadjaran University was related to the implementation of a joint lecture on the topic of Onomatopoeia.

The lecturers from Padjadjaran University, consisting of lecturers from the Sundanese Literature and Japanese Literature study programs, shared their research progress on the topic of Strengthening Understanding of Japanese Onomatopoeia through Website-Based Utilization of Local Wisdom (Sundanese) to students and lecturers of the Japanese Language and Culture study program.

In the project, lecturers from Sundanese Literature and Japanese Literature of Padjadjaran University are trying to develop a dictionary of Japanese onomatopoeia that can be found in Sundanese. The dictionary is still made in Indonesian-Japanese with of course an explanation of the meaning of the onomatopoeia. The existence of the Sundanese equivalent is to facilitate the understanding of the meaning of onomatopoeia for Japanese language learners, in this case Sundanese Japanese language learners. Then, the lecturer from Padjadjaran University also explained their plan to include pictures or visualizations of onomatopoeia in the dictionary to make it easier to understand the meaning of onomatopoeia. This project was carried out with the hope of facilitating the understanding of Japanese onomatopoeia through its equivalent in the local language. The lecturer from Japanese Language and Culture agreed to this because they often encounter cases where students find it easier to find equivalents and understand the meaning of onomatopoeia in the local language than in Indonesian.

At the end of the lecture session, the lecturer of Japanese Language and Culture gave a suggestion to attract Japanese Literature study programs in various universities spread throughout the region in order to increase the variety of equivalents in the local language of each region. In addition, there was an input to create a website so that the public can also participate in the development of the dictionary because it does not rule out the emergence of new onomatopoeias. This activity was then closed with a group photo session.

Author: Valentina Pramahita Iswari

Editor: Yulia Agustiani

Yogyakarta, September 30, 2024 – Faculty of Cultural Sciences Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) held a farewell lecture for Prof. Dr. Phil. Vincent Houben, a distinguished professor of Southeast Asian history and society, on Monday morning at the 7th Floor Auditorium of Soegondo Building. The event was attended by students in general, especially UGM history students, as well as Prof. Houben’s fellow lecturers.

In a lecture entitled “Area History in the Age of (De)globalization – a Retrospective and Prospective View,” Prof. Houben discussed the dynamics of regional history in the context of globalization and deglobalization, highlighting how these changes affect historical understanding. In his presentation, he invited students to reflect on the historical journey that has been taken and the challenges that will be faced in the future.

Prof. Houben recounted his academic journey, which began with the study of Indonesian history and Indonesian language at Leiden University from 1980 to 1987. He then continued his career as a lecturer in Indonesian history at Leiden from 1986 to 1997, before entering the maturity phase of his career by becoming a professor at Passau University and Humboldt University until 2022.

This event was a valuable opportunity for students to learn directly from the experiences and insights of an academic who has contributed greatly to the study of Southeast Asian history. With the spirit of sharing knowledge, this farewell lecture is expected to motivate students to continue to explore and develop the field of history in Indonesia. FIB UGM will always remember Prof. Houben’s contribution and wish him all the best for his next journey in retirement and future projects.

The Master of American Studies study programme in collaboration with the Association of American Studies Students and Alumni (ASSA) organised a Journal Article Writing Workshop. This internal activity which was attended by American Studies Master students was held on Wednesday, 17 September 2024.

The event was divided into two sessions. In the first session, the material was delivered by Dr Aris Munandar, M. Hum, Head of the Master of American Studies Program, Universitas Gadjah Mada. He has conducted various researches covering topics such as language, communication and culture, applied linguistics, educational linguistics, and socio-humanities.

In this first session, the speakers conveyed an overview of the structure of writing journal articles to students.  Generally, the core structure of a journal article consists of introduction, method, result and discussion or commonly abbreviated (IMRaD). In more detail, journal articles are generally systematically composed of abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results and discussion, and conclusion and reference.  In writing the abstract, the author must pay attention that the abstract includes the background, objectives, methods, results, and contributions or implications of the research. Then, when presenting the introduction, the author must be able to present a description of the latest phenomenon studied and the specific objectives of the study. Third, when writing the literature review, the author can explain the development of previous research, identify research gaps, and affirm the urgency of the chosen research topic.  Fourth, in the methods section, researchers must explain research procedures and how to analyse data clearly and systematically. Fifth, when presenting results and discussion, researchers can connect research data with relevant concepts and literature. Finally, in the conclusion section, researchers are expected to emphasise the main findings and implications of the research with related issues.

In the second session, the material was delivered by Emma Natasha Octoveria, S. S., M. A. who is a graduate of Master of Linguistics, Gadjah Mada University. Collaborating with Dr. Aris Munandar, M. Hum., she has successfully published her article in the Scopus Q-1 indexed journal.

In this second session, Emma delivered material entitled “Literature Review: Balancing between Sensibility and Credibility”. In her presentation, she provided many tips and tricks in writing a literature review. In writing a literature review, the author must pay attention to previous research that will be reviewed must be relevant to the material object, formal object, and context that will be studied. The author can do a literature review mapping first to facilitate the search and writing. Then, she stated that the key to receiving articles in reputable journals is the selection of previous research taken from reputable journal articles. In addition, in this session, Emma also provided practical examples of writing good literature reviews to students by showing examples of writing literature reviews from reputable and quality journal articles. To facilitate writing citations and references, Emma also demonstrated directly how to use the reference management application, Mendeley, easily, practically, and efficiently. “The use of this Mendeley will greatly help in the efficiency and management of the author’s writing time,” she said.

In addition to explaining the basic concept of article writing structure, he also conveyed other important things related to tips and tricks for students to conduct research. Some of them are, first understanding the target of the article’s readers, considering what they should need to know, and also providing evidence in an article so that the assumptions given are justified. In short, the event was closed with an interactive question and answer activity from the participants, and the resource person also gave very concise and easy-to-understand answers so that it increased the participants’ insight in understanding article writing.

At the end of the session, each resource person emphasized participants/students to increase their reading references of reputable journal articles. This aims to build a reading habit and familiarize students with being exposed to quality academic writing structures, which will indirectly build students’ thinking patterns to be able to produce quality research reports in the form of journal articles.

On 2nd of October 2024, at Soegondo Building Auditorium, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) was honored to receive a visit from students of SMAN 2 Kuta Selatan. This activity aims to provide insight into the excellence of FIB UGM and explain the career prospects for graduates.

In the event, representatives of undergraduate and postgraduate students of FIB UGM shared their experiences and reasons why they chose this faculty. Aisyah Riska, a graduate student majoring in Linguistics, revealed that her initial interest came from the many renowned linguistic experts who teach at the Faculty. “This faculty has experienced and well-known lecturers in their fields, which is certainly an added value for us as students,” said Aisyah.

Meanwhile, Sandya Kirani, an undergraduate student from Anthropology department, added that the Faculty is ranked first in Indonesia and around 50th in the world. “I feel proud to be able to study at this highly reputable faculty. This is an important consideration for me in choosing a major,” she explained.

The event also discussed job prospects for graduates of FIB UGM. Many alumni have successfully pursued careers as ambassadors, translators, lecturers, and CEOs in the tourism sector. This shows that education at FIB UGM is not only qualified, but also relevant to the needs of the current world of work.

In the context of international cooperation, FIB UGM also establishes partnerships with various institutions abroad. This cooperation includes student exchange programs, joint research, and international seminars, which certainly enrich students’ learning experience. Hopefully, this visit can provide inspiration and motivation for them in determining their next educational steps.