On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, a historical discussion was held in Room 709, 7th Floor, Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University. The event took place from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM WIB and was attended by various academics and historical researchers, both from Indonesia and abroad, including research colleagues from the Netherlands who were on a journey retracing history following World War II in Indonesia.

The discussion was officially opened by Dr. Abdul Wahid, M.A., Head of the Department of History, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM. In his opening remarks, he emphasized the importance of historical studies based on academic collaboration between Indonesia and the Netherlands to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the decolonization period and its impact on both nations. read more

Building a Community-Based History Conscious Heritage

Department of History, Universitas Gadjah Mada
5-10 August 2024

About the Summer School

The return of heritage objects from the Netherlands to Indonesia over the past few years has raised major questions about the meaning of heritage objects in society. There is no doubt that museums are foreign institutions for Indonesians and that museums are only visited by school children who are required to attend. Why is tangible heritage and its institutions such as museums often perceived as alien and distant from the community? Critics of cultural heritage scholars suggest that one of the main reasons for the distance and alienation of heritage stored in museums lies in the inherent nature of museums as colonial institutions. Museums and the production of knowledge about heritage that emerged alongside colonialism and the formation of sciences such as archaeology and linguistics are based on Western ontologies that therefore contain and replicate the epistemic violence of Western colonialism. read more

Memoryscapes of children’s education in faith-based institutions in Indonesia (1890-1980)

Workshop & Summer School
5 – 14 August 2024
7th Floor Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Jalan Nusantara 1 Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281 INDONESIA

Introduction

This workshop and summer school program examines the scope, spread and development of faith‐based child separation in (post-)colonial Indonesia (1890‐1980). It investigates policies and practices of institutional education of children separate from their parents, kin and community. Such policies and practices underpinned structural cultural and social assimilation of children into ‘governable subjects’. Their education is to be a considered a linch pin of colonial governance. This Summer School introduces the concept of child separation and aims to integrate voices and perspectives of separated children and their kin. Life stories of individual children integrate structural historical analysis and personal sources. read more

About the Summer School

As a continuation of the summer school on the environment that has been held successfully for several years at the Department of History, UGM, this year’s summer school raises the theme of human ecology in facing the challenges of creating new environmental governance for the 21st century. Referring back to the capitalocene critique of the problems of environmental governance shaped by capitalism in the 20th and 21st centuries, this summer school aims to explore the ontological forms of environmental governance outside of capitalist extractivism and state modernization. Here, we will explore and recall stories and knowledge that have long been held in the collective cultural memory of Indonesians – and imagine forms of ecological nationhood and citizenship rooted in local traditions and understandings. read more

On Wednesday, February 22, 2023, the History Department of Universitas Gadjah Mada held its first departmental discussion event. The speaker of the discussion was Dr. Ahmad Athoillah with a research entitled “The Role of Sayid Saqqaf Al-Jufri and Modern Islamic Education in Arab Society in Kedu in the Early 20th Century.”

This research focuses on the roles and interactions of Sayid Saqqaf Al-Jufri in developing the modernization of Islamic education in the Kedu region in the early 20th century through the Al-Iman school that was established in Magelang. The results of this study show that Sayid Saqqaf was one of the Hadrami Arab Islamic education reformers who built a trans-local network of Islamic education modernism which was supported by Hadrami Arab kinship, Muslim intellectuals, and trade activities. Some of the themes explored during the discussion were the Islamic education systems in the early 20th century and the development of Islamic modernism during the same period. read more

On January 25, 2023, a public lecture entitled Critically Reviewing the History of the Indonesian Women’s Movement was held. This public lecture was a collaborative event between the Department of History of Universitas Gadjah Mada and Ruang Arsip dan Sejarah Perempuan (RUAS). The event invited Prof. Dr. Saskia E. Wieringa, professor of history, gender studies and same sex cross culturally at Universiteit van Amsterdam, and Ita Fatia Nadia as the moderator.

This public lecture departed from her book entitled The Destruction of the Women’s Movement in Indonesia, published by Kalyanamitra, Garba Budaya, in 1999. In this public lecture, Prof. Wieringa discussed the history of gender in Indonesia, especially in the pre-Islamic period, how the New Order politicized gender for its interests, and several theories that underlie her book, namely: 1) passionate aesthetics, 2) symbolic subversion, and 3) postcolonial amnesia. read more

On Wednesday (23-11), the UGM Department of History organized an event entitled Environmental History Conference: Dialogue of Academics and Movements in Shared Environmental History. The event lasted for 2 days in the multimedia room of Margono Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. The conference was organized to build an environmental history education base that is relevant to the needs of the environmental movement. This is done by creating a deep understanding of the forms of research and knowledge needed by the movement. read more

On Monday (14-11), the History Department of Universitas Gadjah Mada held an Oral History Exhibition “Soeara Rakjat Tahun 1945-1965”. The event was held in the basement of Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Studies UGM until November 24, 2022. The opening of the event presented Satrio Dwicahyo, Muhammad Faisal Adnan, and Dinda Nabila. In the opening, it was mentioned that this exhibition was the result of the annual assignment of the class of 2019 in the Oral History class.

There are several themes raised in this exhibition, namely family, education, military, culture, and politics. Although the themes vary, they all have one goal, which is to present people’s perspectives on history. In general, history presents stories of great figures. However, in the midst of great change, many people are affected, from members of religious organizations to residents of burnt houses. Their hardships, struggles, feelings and aspirations are the main focus of this exhibition. read more

Wednesday (19-10), The Department of History UGM conducted a workshop entitled Transnational Histories of Activism in Southeast Asia and Beyond. With Bristol University and Ruang Arsip dan Sejarah Perempuan (RUAS), speakers from different fields were invited to present a public lecture on transnational activism. The speakers included Brigitta Isabella, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Ita F. Nadia, Su Lin Lewis, Widya Fitrianingsih, Wildan Sena Utama, and Yulianti. The event started with a speech from Abdul Wahid, the head of History Department UGM. read more

Tuesday (20-9), Department of History UGM conducted a public lecture entitled Towards an End of Colonialism: Mid-Century European Photographers Working for an Independent Indonesia. Brian Arnold from Cornell University became the speaker of this lecture, accompanied by Satrio Dwicahyo, a lecturer from Department of History UGM. In this public lecture, Arnold discussed the power of photography and European photographers who sided with Indonesia.

Photography is often seen as a snippet of the past. In both archives and history books, it seems like a neutral static proof of the actuality of an event. However, Arnold argued that photos are so much more complex than that. It is a powerful tool to disseminate knowledge. “Everything that a photographer experiences affects the decisions they make,” explained Arnold. “What is in the frame is as important as what is not in the frame. All of that creates subjective sensibility in photography.” That subjectivity can be manifested in the way as subtle as the background of a photographer following orders, to concrete ones such as institutionalized interests. read more