On March 23, 2021, the Department of History, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada just held a book launch event for Prof. Dr. Djoko Suryo and Dr. J. Thomas Lindblad. The book launch event entitled, “Exploitation, Modernization, and Development: Socio-Economic Changes in Rural Java in Colonial and Post-Colonial” was carried out online and offline by taking place in the chairman courtroom. At the launch of this book, Prof. Dr. Djoko Suryo, who was accompanied by his wife, was also present in the chairman courtroom along with the lecturers of the Department of History, UGM, represented by Dr. Abdul Wahid, M. Hum, M. Phil., Dr. Farabi Fakih, M. Phil., Dr. Sri Margana, M. Phil., and Dr. Mutiah Amini, M. Hum. Then on the sidelines of the book launch event, sharing activities and gatherings were also held between the lecturers, which during the pandemic period was difficult to hold face-to-face meetings. (Adit) read more

Pada 23 Maret 2021, Departemen Sejarah, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, Universitas Gadjah Mada baru saja mengadakan acara peluncuran buku persembahan bagi Prof. Dr. Djoko Suryo dan Dr. J. Thomas Lindblad. Acara peluncuran buku yang berjudul, “Eksploitasi, Modernisasi, dan Pembangunan: Perubahan Sosial Ekonomi Pedesaan Jawa pada Kolonial dan Post-Kolonial” ini dilaksanakan melalui daring dan juga luring dengan mengambil tempat di ruang sidang pimpinan. Pada acara peluncuran buku ini, Prof. Dr. Djoko Suryo yang ditemani oleh istri turut hadir di ruang sidang pimpinan bersama dengan para dosen Departemen Sejarah FIB UGM yang diwakili oleh Dr. Abdul Wahid, M. Hum, M. Phil., Dr. Farabi Fakih, M. Phil., Dr. Sri Margana, M. Phil., dan Dr. Mutiah Amini, M. Hum. Kemudian disela-sela acara peluncuran buku ini juga dilakukan kegiatan sharing dan temu kangen antar dosen lain yang selama masa pandemi sulit untuk melakukan pertemuan tatap muka. (Adit) read more

About the Scholarship

In order to encourage the continuation of the tradition of historical study about Independence Revolution, Department of History developed a special program in the form of research scholarships for master and doctoral students. This program is aimed to research, write scientific publication, or final assignments about the period of the Indonesian Revolution in the years 1945-1949. this research scholarship scheme is the part of cooperation collaborative research program between Department of History UGM and KITLV Leiden “Proklamasi Kemerdekaan, Revolusi, dan perang di Indonesia, 1945-1949”. this scholarship program will be held at odd semester of academic year 2020/2021 and 2021/2022/

Research Theme

The big theme of this research scholarship program is “Indonesia Revolution 1945-1949 in regional and global context”. the theme included, but not limited, to this aspects: social, culture, art, ethnicity, economy, religion, diplomation, politic, government, logistic, transportation, technology, military, gender, family, minority, education, etc.

Terms and Conditions

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The first opportunity as a speaker was given to Mrs. Djuwariyah who shared her experience about the revolutionary period. As a witness to the history of the revolution that was born in 1933, when she was 15 years old, in 1948 to be precise, she became a member of the Red Cross who also served as a courier for the revolutionary soldiers in Yogyakarta. Now, at the age of 86 years, she is still able to tell in detail and coherently about the conditions she experienced during the revolution since the beginning she was involved in the struggle until the end of the struggle to defend the independence of the Republic of Indonesia. In addition, she was also involved in the Red Cross which served during the DI-TII period in Bumiayu. For Mrs. Dju, her nickname, the struggle during DI-TII was more difficult because the ‘enemies’ they faced were difficult to distinguish from other Indonesians. If Djuwariyah represented the early generation of the Indonesian revolutionary struggle, Galuh Ambar Sasi spoke as the second generation as an independent historical researcher. This alumni of the UGM History Masters program has an interest in women’s reactions to the proclamation and their role during the revolution. The third generation invited was Shinta Dwi Nugraeni, a student of Senior High School 2 Bantul. Shinta, who previously won first place in the 2019 National History Tour essay competition, shared her experience while studying history at school. For Shinta, the position of women during the revolutionary period was not significantly described, neither in textbooks nor in LKS books used in schools. No wonder, Shinta comments, that history is one of the most boring subjects for other students.

After the three speakers shared their experiences, Dr. Mutiah Amini, who was appointed as a keynote speaker who also has an interest in women’s history, gave responses and comments to the three speakers, especially about Djuwariyah’s experience during the revolution which will enrich the historical treasures of the revolution from a women’s perspective. Apart from that, she also spoke on a more general topic, namely the importance of women’s perspectives in history. For her, there are many historical periods that look minimal in archives but can actually be studied further. The use of symbolic sources when analyzed further will produce a very rich historical narrative.

By presenting speakers across generations, this discussion successfully taught how to interpret the role of women during the revolutionary period. [sej/habibi]

The workshop was filled by 10 speakers who were divided into three sessions. The first session began with a presentation on ethnomusicology from Dr. Barbara Titus. As the person who now occupies the position of the late Jaap Kunst as head of Ethnomusicology at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, he not only explains about Jaap Kunst’s legacy, but also criticizes and describes opportunities for ethnomusicology studies in the future. One panel with Barbara is Dr. Citra Aryandari and three of her students from ISI Yogyakarta. They shared the reasons for their interest in studying ethnomusicology.

The second session was filled by three people, namely RM Surtihadi, M.Sn., Indra Fibiona, S.S., and Dr. Sri Margana. Surtihadi who is also a doctoral student at ISI Yogyakarta explained about the mixing of Javanese and European music at the Yogyakarta Palace, while Indra Fibiona from the Yogyakarta Cultural Value Conservation Center (BPNB) explained the biography of R.M. Djajadipoera who during his lifetime often interacted with Jaap Kunst when he visited Yogyakarta. Djajadipoera is one of the music and dance figures at the Yogyakarta Palace. Sri Margana’s presentation from the UGM History Department focused more on his research on the archives of Djajadipoera’s correspondence with Jaap Kunst. Apart from directly watching music performances, Jaap Kunst also studied music through correspondence with many music experts and the two figures he wrote to the most were Mangkunegoro VII and Djajadipoera.

Furthermore, the third session was filled by Margi Ariyanti and Henk Mak van Dijk. Margi Ariyanti is a graduate student in the Study of Performing Arts and Fine Arts/ Pengkajian Seni Pertunjukan dan Seni Rupa (PSPSR) UGM, while Henk Mak van Dijk from the Music Conservatory of Rotterdam & the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. On that occasion, Margi tried to make a comparison between the famous Indo composer, Constant van de Wall, and Ki Hadjar Dewantara. Meanwhile, Henk who also teaches at the Muziek Academie, The Hague, spoke further about the career of one of the most successful composers. In 2007, he also published a biography of van de Wall. In addition to de Wall, Henk also mentions several composers who are similar to de Wall in mixing elements of Javanese music into European music, including a female composer born in Yogyakarta, Linda Bandara.

The ten speakers above did not only talk about Jaap Kunst individually, but also about ethnomusicology more broadly. This is in line with the event’s goal of developing, not just unlocking, the legacy of Jaap Kunst. In addition to the explanation of the knowledge requirements, the workshop participants were even more interested because the event was closed by Henk’s piano playing who performed compositions by Paul Seeling, van de Wall, and Linda Bandara. [sej/habibi]

The Department of History, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta plan to continue holding its second year summer school on transnationalism in Southeast Asia following on the successful summer school on transnationalism held at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2018 with the title “Transnational History: Becoming a Cosmopolitan Historian.” The theme of the second summer school is a broadening of the application of transnationalism in looking not just at historical phenomenon, but present day economic, social, religious, cultural and political phenomenon in the city of Yogyakarta that is rooted in transnational forces and flows. By looking at how transnational flows create emergent potentialities that disrupt regulatory, moral and cultural spaces tethered on notions of fixed spaces and boundaries, the disruptive forces of transnationalism have resulted in categorizing certain people, things, practices and ideas as illegal, illicit, immoral and other pejorative notions; for instances illegal immigrants, drugs or ‘western-customs’. At the same time, other people, things, practices and ideas are considered as legal, legitimate and good. The movement of these groups from one society or country to another has resulted in placing these groups on either side of the legal, licit and moral framework resulting in contestations and reformulation of the framework themselves. These interplay between legal and illegal and moral and immoral thus represent a way in which societies ‘move forward’, by contesting the boundaries and framework of what are considered as good, bad or neutral.

We intend to look into these phenomena critically through theoretical, historical and social science discussion on various transnational manifestations in the city of Yogyakarta. These transnational phenomena appear in the form of social spaces, cultural events, economies and belief systems and represent the intertwining of transnational and local spaces and societies. These represented long historical phenomena from the period when Southeast Asia was part of that Asian trade network that brought over foreign culture, religion and social practices that would be entwined in the city’s identities. These same historical forces  continue today and become engaged or re-engaged with present day flows; for instance, the rise of modern religion whether Islam, Christianity or Buddhism resulting in new flows such as pilgrimages to ‘new’ holy sites of the old Borobudur, or how ideas of the mysterious and transcendental East has created a tourist networks of ‘hippies’ on the hunt for spiritual enlightenment, or new practices that were brought over from Indonesian migrant workers and their discrimination at the hands of officials or the rise of Kpop or JPop and its relations with the racial notions of identities of Asian cool or new re-engagement with old forms of sexualities, religious beliefs and how these are met in today’s democratic Indonesia. These and others represent the field study in which students could engage, theorize and historicize such phenomenon in order to understand and appreciate them. These changes are often disruptive and result in dismay, discrimination, banning and, perhaps even, persecution. Understanding how some of these flows came to be regarded as normal while others persecuted is an important component of the critical education of the summer school.

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Learning Outcome

• To emphasize understanding about history and transnationalism in Southeast Asia
• To discuss contemporary issues related to transnationalism in Southeast Asia in culture, gender sexuality, economy and religion context.
• To emphasize understanding about transnationalism process network in Southeast Asia.

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Method and Output

The aim of the summer school is to provide the means for students in the field of history and social sciences to critically engage with transnational phenomenon by analyzing its manifestation in the city of Yogyakarta. By holding this exercise as a multicultural and multinational venture with students from around the Southeast Asia region and beyond, it allows students to distance themselves from their national narratives and regulatory, moral and cultural spaces. This distance allows them to open dialogue and re-examine their territorialized notions of legal and moral perspectives. The summer school is a cosmopolitan and denationalizing exercise; gathering students from around the world in order to facilitate a transnational dialogue. The dangers of placing people, things, practices and ideas within these legal and moral framework is apparent when one confronts its human victim; whether they be victims of state apparatus or criminals profiting from these transnational flows. At the same time, the creation of transnational spaces results in emergent identities, practices and ideas that are positive, uplifting and creative. This positive aspect of transnationalism also requires a critical perspective in understanding its relationship with the wider society and with the wider transnational flows. Students will be equipped with theoretical lectures on transnationalism and transnational history, but also engage in field studies into communities, organizations or activities in the city of Yogyakarta. The transnational approach allows such a local and semi-isolated place like Yogyakarta to be a rich node of global processes because its framework inherently decenter nodal connections. It also allows us to see in what way has Europe, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and so forth are reflected in the history and phenomenon of Yogyakarta. such exercise will allow students to identity transnational connections with their own local histories, identities and practices.

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Time & Place

Date                            : July 22nd – August 2nd, 2019

Time                           : 08.30 am-15.00 pm

Course Venue           : Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Field Research         : Communities in Yogyakarta

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Lecturer

1. Prof. Dr. Atsushi Ota (Keio University, Japan)
2. Prof. Dr. Bambang Purwanto (Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
3. Prof. Dr. Danny Wong Tze Ken (University of Malaya, Malaysia)
4. Prof. Dr. Itty Abraham (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
5. Prof. Dr. Jos Gommans (Leiden University, Netherlands)
6. Prof. Dr. Kathrine McGregor (Melbourne University, Australia)
7. Asst. Prof. Dr. Adisorn Muakpimai (Thammasat University, Thailand)
8. Asst. Prof. Dr. Bhawan Ruangsilp (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand)
9. Dr. Ariel C. Lopez (University of Philippine, Philippine)
10. Dr. Erwan Agus Purwanto (Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, UGM)
11. Dr. Farabi Fakih, M.Phil. (Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
12. Dr. Francis A. Gealogo (Ateneo de Manila University, Philippine)
13. Dr. Laksmi A. Savitri, M.Si. (Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia) –in confirmation-
14. Dr. Pham Van Thuy (Vietnam National University, Vietnam)
15. Dr. Phil. Shiskha Prabawaningtyas (Paramadina University, Indonesia)
16. Dr. Sri Margana, M.Phil. (Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
17. Dr. Suzie Handajani, M.A. (Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
18. Dr. Yerry Wirawan (Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia)
19. Dr. Yoseph Djakababa (Pelita Harapan University, Indonesia)
20. Alia Swastika (ARK Galerie)
21. Yulianti, PhD. Candidate (Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada/ Leiden University)

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Application

The course is free but limited to 36 participants only and please read carefully important information below:

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Education in Indonesia has always made the curriculum a benchmark for the success or failure of the teaching system. In fact, the curriculum is just an inanimate object, so curriculum changes are not a solution in solving educational problems. The capacity and ability of teachers is something that must be updated every second. If the teacher does not have the novelty of knowledge in accordance with the demands of the times, then education will not experience development. This is the answer, why history education has not developed much even though historical writing and research after the New Order has developed rapidly. This can be a material for self-examination as a teacher or lecturer, how new are the materials being taught in class?

Another problem is the psychology of teachers in providing motivation, both to themselves and to students. Currently, the field of history is not made a priority among young people. To be able to motivate young people to love history, teachers must first love their profession, “Teachers who happen to be teachers will not become real teachers”. So to be able to respond to technological and information developments, methodological, historiographical and teacher capacity issues must be resolved in parallel.

More can be seen in the following video:

Hans Visser’s book, Wieteke van Dort: Kind van Twee Culturen; Een familiekroniek was published on October 25, 2018. However, as a journalist working with Noor d-Holland Dagblad, it seems that Hans is quite interested in telling the story to the public.

On Thursday, November 2 2018, the UGM History Department invited Hans to tell the story of Wieteke van Dort’s life. The event was held from 1 to 15.00 in Meeting Room 1, Poerbatjaraka Building, FIB, UGM.

According to Hans, what is interesting about Wieteke is the origins of the two cultures that have influenced him, Java and the Netherlands. Yes, all because Wieteke is indeed an Indo. Born in Surabaya on May 16, 1943, Wieteke is the daughter of a Dutch father and Javanese mother. Unfortunately, when he was visiting the Netherlands at the age of 18, his family decided to settle in Den Haag read more

The summer school involved students in 17 classroom sessions that raises subtopics namely: introduction to transnational perspective, religion, diaspora, disease, city as the stage of transnationalism, transnationalism and human security issues, as well as relation between transnationalism with national historiography. Each session taught by lecturers that are expert on the field; Prof. Dr. Vincent Houben (Universitat Berlin), Prof. Kate McGregor (University of Melbourne), Prof. Dr. Atsushi Ota (Keio University), Prof. Danny Wong Tze Ken (University of Malaya), Prof. Dr. Jurgen Sarnowsky (University of Hamburg), Dr. Pham Van Thuy (Vietnam National University-Hanoi), Dr. Adisorn Muakpimai (Thammasat University), Dr. Onanong Thippimol (Thammasat University), Dr. Shiskha Prabawaningtyas (Universitas Paramadina), Dr. Francis Gealogo (Ateneo de Manila University), Dr. Riza Noer Arfani (Department of International Relation UGM), Dr. Nina Mariani Noor (Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta), and Mr. Ariel Lopez, MA (University of the Philippines Diliman). Faculty members from the Department of History UGM; Prof. Bambang Purwanto, Dr. Sri Margana, and Dr. Farabi Fakih also contributed on teaching process of the summer school. Participants also obtained valuable opportunity to listen a presentation brought by Mr.Wahyu Susilo, activist of Migrant Care, organization that deals with migrant worker issues.

Apart from interactive classroom sessions, participants of the summer school also went for temple trip and bicycle city tour to observe closely tangible heritage that has transnational characteristics in Yogyakarta. During two days trip, participants accompanied by organizers and student buddies visited Plaosan Temple, Sambisari Temple, Tjen Ling Kiong Chinese Temple (Klenteng Poncowinatan), and Santo Yusup Catholic Church at Bintaran among others.

Participants of the summer school were also required to do group project about transnational history. For this matter, participants went for field research to collect primary data regarding their project. Representatives of group presented their result in the last day of the summer school as a follow up of their field research. Themes chosen by participants of the summer school were not only thought-provoking but also incited rigorous discussion in the class. Group 1 chose jamu as core topic of their paper although interestingly explained it through friction between traditional medicine vs western medicine, Group 2 raised “sensitive” issue on Papuan student and their survival strategy in Yogyakarta, Group 3 investigated transnationality of Ramayana and proven that Ramayana is a shared among Southeast Asian citizens, Group 4 discussed street food and its encounter with global obsession, Group 5 researched on bakpia as a product of cultural interaction between Chinese diaspora with indigenous community, whereas Group 6 paid close attention to batik and its transnational characteristic that is manifested on their pattern and coloring among others.
Dr. Sri Margana, Head of History Department as well as Chief Organizer of the Summer School, emphasized that UGM and partnering universities committed to continue the summer school in upcoming years. “We would raise the same issue; transnational history but certainly with more professors, richer themes, and more diverse participants” stated Dr. Sri Margana in front of participants on the closing remarks. [Sej/Ody]

Organized by History Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences and Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Transnational history has produced a significant body of work since its development in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This approach owed its inception as part from the shift from political history that was comfortably located within the national narrative toward social and cultural history in the 1970s and 1980s that developed perspectives such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender that was localized and non-national. These developments, unfortunately, had worried historians because of the parochial and antiquarian nature of local histories. The early 1990s and 2000s saw the publication of David Thelen’s Toward the Internationalization of American History and Thomas Bender’s Rethinking American History in Global Age from which efforts to provincialize and denationalize American history has pointed the way for a true dialogue of experts from all parts of the world in imagining differential spaces other than that of the nation-state. This is needed in order to construct an American historiography that could meet the current needs of a globalizing world and place it with emphasis on a perspective of the future. Instead of focusing on local phenomenon, the emphasis was on understanding social, cultural and political ones as a transnational process; reconceptualizing identities, communities, and products within different transnational framework; for instance, Hollywood movies as it was received and recreated on other parts of the globe and thus seeing it not merely as an American cultural product, but a wider globalizing phenomenon.  Bruce Mazlish and Ralph Buultjen’s edited volume Conceptualizing Global History expands this further by bringing forth ideas in developing global narratives of local or non-national identities and spaces. Two approaches that were identified by Thelen has been to focus on either borderlands, as liminal spaces in which national units undergo transformative shifts, and the comparative approach, not merely as a means for national historians to compare each other’s narratives but to create new perspective altogether that is both national and international.

Prasenjit Duara points to the political nature of the act of transnational history. “For me, personally, this reevaluation is necessary to counter the growing trend of ultranationalists, intolerant groups in many parts of the world, such as Japan and India, who are seeking to rewrite textbooks and otherwise seize control of the vast machinery of historical pedagogy established over the past twentieth century.” This warning, published in a book edited by Thomas Bender in 2002, seems prescient today in 2018 when the growth of nativist and anti-globalist discourse has transformed the political landscape of many countries and pushed forth the rise of neo-fascist movements. This reevaluation mainly occurs by training historians themselves to have an internationalist outlook and be cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan in the sense that their view of history should always place them both in a national and international perspective. As Bender points out “the true cosmopolitan must cultivate a doubleness that allows both commitment and distance, an awareness at once of the possible distance of the self and of the possibility of dialogical knowledge of the other.” Transnational history does not intend to disqualify national history, but to enrich its perspective by allowing other non-national perspectives to have a voice in what Duara has called the ‘machinery of historical pedagogy’ – an important tool in which ordinary people use to develop the boundaries of their identities. As Ernst Renan noted, the national narrative requires a degree of forgetting. This act of forgetting has always been violent with significant long-term implications.

Creating a sense of cosmopolitan distance requires moving one’s self, both spatially, but more importantly, socially and culturally, from one’s national zone. Distancing oneself from the national narrative and its ever-present gaze require meeting students from other identities with their own narratives and gazes. The Summer School to be held at Universitas Gadjah Mada is both a cosmopolitan and denationalizing exercise; gathering students from around the world in order to facilitate that transnational dialogue. The exercise is also meant to try and practice the transnational gaze, reconceptualizing identities in a local manner and identifying transnational relations; looking at the presence of their locality in the spaces and history of Yogyakarta. The students will be trained to identify local narratives and identities in the vicinity of the city of Yogyakarta but also identifying possible transnational connections to their countries or to a more global phenomenon. For instance, looking at the relationship between Yogya’s Buddhist communities and phenomenon with those of other communities in Southeast Asia, analyzing Asian popular culture and how it is received by people in the city in the form of cosplays, how has Western romantic idea of the East in the form of the hippy trail resulted in the rise of tourism and how hippy culture affected the local art scene in Yogya, how has Chinese cuisine affected local food items in comparison to other parts of the world, in what way has the global resurgence of political Islam since the 1970s affected the rise of alternative local Muslim outside of NU and Muhammadiyah and its comparison with the scene from other countries. By localizing these transnational nodes within the fabric of Yogyakarta’s urban space, it interrogates these spaces and push for the emergence of new, transnational narratives from them. The transnational approach allows such a local and semi-isolated place like Yogyakarta to be a rich node of global processes because its framework inherently decenter nodal connections. It also allows us to see in what way has Europe, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and so forth are reflected in the history and identity of Yogyakarta. Such exercise will allow students to identify transnational connections within their own local and national histories.

Course Description

Gaining a cosmopolitan and transnational perspective on place and history allows a rethinking of identities and boundaries that creates a multicultural and multi-narrative reading of current and past realities. This ability is important in today’s world of increasing sectarian and nationalist polarization, producing important counter-narrative that is local, national as well as transnational in scope.

Learning Outcome

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