Hongsok Lee

Religion can create conflict, but it can also be a source of cooperation and peace (McBride & Richardson, 2012). If different religions work together to solve the problems that exist in the world, this is what many people expect from religion today. Environmental issues are one of the most urgent of the many problems that exist in the world today. Interreligious cooperation can help solve these problems.

The Monthly Conversation on Religion and Ecology in December 2024 focused on environmental education projects at MI Ma’arif Bego (madrassa) and SD Nahdlatul Ulama Sleman (elementary school). The project at MI Ma’arif Bego was carried out by Khusnul Harsul Lisan and his team, while the project at SD Nahdlatul Ulama was carried out by Mustamid and his team. The environmental education projects at the two schools focused on what to do with paper waste and food waste, respectively. The researchers and assistants of the project are all affiliated with Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama Yogyakarta. read more

Athanasia Safitri

Indonesia has seen ups and downs due to various conflicts and threats to peace from the colonial era, post-independence, and now during the era of democracy. The experiences have shown the connections between the development of democracy, peacebuilding initiatives, and conflict resolution decisions. The reflections that take place afterward inevitably come with multidisciplinary and intersectional approaches in the hope of the realization of a better democracy for Indonesia.

A national seminar titled “Conflict Resolution and Peace Experiences in the Context of Indonesia’s Future Democracy” was held on November 28, 2024, to address the issue. It is a forum for exchanging experiences, learning from best practices, and developing strategic goals in Indonesian democracy, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution. It is a component of UGM’s 75th Anniversary and 15th Lustrum events which touch several fields including those in relation to conflicts violating freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). read more

Athanasia Safitri

Politics in the Netherlands and Indonesia share something in common as their recent elections have made two populists win; Geert Wilders in November 2023 and Prabowo Subianto in February 2024. Polarisation has increased inevitably since various social media platforms get massive attention and play a major role in political campaigns and debates. Despite the success of the freedom of speech and expression, as well as the full practice of democracy, divisions have developed between elites at the grassroots level in several areas, including religions. read more

Hongsok Lee

The last presenter at the Wednesday Forum was Subkhani Kusuma Dewi. She teaches in the Hadith Department at UIN Sunan Kalijaga and recently completed her PhD study at Western Sydney University. Her research focuses on Sufi-based practice of short pilgrimage to Mecca (umrah) in the interweaving pilgrimage field of Java, Indonesia. Her work contributes to current discussions on digital anthropology and material religion by using hybrid ethnography tools in the context of the pandemic.

Her presentation is part of her thesis about the practice of the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the practice of the pilgrimage among Indonesian Muslims. She argues that the Internet media sector has emerged as a developed economic sector in this practice, which has increased significantly during the pandemic. Her research has uncovered two notable changes in Indonesian practitioners. The first change occurred during the transition to the new normal, face-to-face engagement was replaced by a reliance on virtual modes of pilgrimage. Indonesian travel agencies developed a phenomenon among pilgrims called networked individualism (networked community; Campbell, 2022), where individuals and leaders stay in their own spaces and maintain virtual religious gatherings. Second, the pandemic has contributed to the rise of proxy pilgrimages, where religious leaders represent pilgrims and provide live-streaming options. While the recent phenomenon has resulted in some modifications to Islamic guidelines (Badal Hajj/Umrah), pilgrims’ interest in new ways of traveling attests to a changing perception of the spatiality and materiality of the Indonesian Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. read more

The massive development of digital technology today has gradually changed the learning process in various educational institutions, especially universities. Digital technology can no longer be denied in the learning process and affects the academic interaction between educators (teachers/lecturers) and learners (students). In this case, universities must provide a progressive and creative response rather than just being reactive, even emphasizing it.

With this academic awareness, Universitas Kristen Indonesia Maluku (UKIM) strengthens the intensity of cooperation with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS) through joint academic activities. On Friday, November 14, 2024, at the UKIM hall, the UKIM Postgraduate Program invited Dr. Leonard Chrysostomos Epafras (Core Faculty UGM/ICRS) to give a public lecture for lecturers and postgraduate students. The theme of the public lecture chosen was “Digital Pedagogy: Utilization of Artificial Intelligence in Learning and Digital Profile Management” which is directly directed at achieving competence in understanding and skills in using several AI applications or PromptBots for the benefit of teaching and research of the UKIM postgraduate academic community. read more

Overview

In an era marked by rapid technological innovations and digital transformations, the domain of interreligious dialogue faces both novel opportunities and unprecedented challenges. The emergent capacities of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital media are reshaping foundational interactions across religious boundaries. This special issue of the Studies in Interreligious Dialogue seeks to explore the intersections of interreligious dialogue with digital practice and the advent of AI, inviting global scholars to contribute their insights and research findings. read more

Refan Aditya, The Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP)

On September 21, 2024, Tangerang’s Chinatown Pasar Lama was abuzz with the cheers of thousands of people. They came to witness the most anticipated procession of the Benteng Chinese Peranakan: Gotong Toapekong 12 tahunan (12-yearly of Gotong Toapekong). Since it is only performed once every 12 years in the Dragon year of the lunar calendar, thousands of tourists flock from all over to visit this Chinatown district.

Gotong Toapekong is one of the most grandiose Chinese folk religion rituals that engages the wider public, not only the Chinese but also the non-Chinese communities around, making this ritual performace as a part of the mass culture that is both sacred and festive. Gotong Toapekong presents a parade of kimsin or deity statues that are taken out of the klenteng and carried around the city or Chinatown, serenaded with various art performances, such as drumming music, tatung, or spirit medium, and cengge or cosplay (costume play) of Chinese legendary figures such as Sun Go Kong and the Goddess of Kwan Im. Hence, Gotong Toapekong features the street as an important place where Chinese folk religion is performed and preserved, alongside the klenteng, Chinese cemetery, and home. read more

Steve G. C. Gaspersz, Universitas Kristen Indonesia Maluku – Ambon

The ICRS researchers’ team presented their latest research at the ICRS Special Panel of The 6th International Conference and Consolidation on Indigenous Religion (ICIR) on 24 October 2024 at the Institut Agama Kristen Negeri (IAKN) Ambon. All three presented a very rigorous analytical perspective with excellent qualitative data. Let’s take a quick look at the content of the research they presented.

• Leonard C. Epafras, “Digital Inclusivity of Believers in Almighty God (Penghayat Kepercayaan): Comprehending the Digital Realm as a Space of Becoming in a Polarized Society”. In his presentation, the Penghayat are described as a group of ancestral believers, cultural communities (adat), spiritual movements, and recipients of mental health services, which are examined on how they respond to three issues: (1) the formulation of the definition of religion by the government; (2) a scaled campaign on digital literacy; and (3) post-2017 political polarization. The believer’s strategy to present themselves as a minority in a majority-minded society was also discussed.
• Hendrikus P. Kaunang, “Navigating Digital Realms: Hospitality and Hostility Encountered by the Baduy Community”. This presentation explores the dynamics of interaction between the Baduy community and the digital world. This study aims to explore how digital inclusion affects the Baduy community in the categories of hospitality and hostility. On one hand, digital access opens up opportunities to widely introduce cultural practices, education, and economic prospects through tourism. However, on the other hand, the context also exposes them to cultural dilution, cyber threats, and the erosion of cultural values that have an impact on the emergence of social frictions.
• David A. H. Rafsanjani, “Being Citizen and Netizen: The Dynamics and Challenges of Organisasi Si Raja Batak as a Minority Group in Indonesia”. This presentation presents the dynamics and challenges of the Organisasi Si Raja Batak which, since its formation in 1971 in North Sumatra, has experienced various forms of discrimination. In the social environment, they experience verbal violence by being labeled as a group of misguided people. As citizens, they are discriminated against because they must continue to list the “official religion” on their ID cards, and their members face hate speech, threats, and prejudice on social media.

In their presentations, the three panelists showed the complexity of the existential issue of indigenous faith communities throughout Indonesian history, which can be thought of as starting when the Indonesian nation-state entity was proclaimed in 1945. The reality of plurality, which was initially accepted as the “spirit of common struggle” against the tyranny of colonialism, then underwent an ideological transformation as a relationship that was loaded with conflicts of interest to get the opportunity to dominate through quantitative calculations that were sociologically labeled as majority-minority relations. The relationship hardens when “majority-minority” is confirmed as a democratic platform that favors social groups with more dominant ethnic and religious identities. read more

By Imanuel Geovasky

Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) successfully co-hosted the inaugural Globethics Doctoral School (GDS) 2024 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from September 24th to October 5th, 2024. It was an intensive program in which UGM welcomed outstanding doctoral candidates from different continents and disciplines to collaborate and intellectually debate on the topic of “Inclusive Peace and Responsible Governance.”

GDS 2024 offered a unique blend of academic rigor and cultural immersion. Renowned scholars such as Dicky Sofjan (Core Doctoral Faculty at the Indonesia Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), UGM, Indonesia and the Vice President of Globethics)), Greta Balliu (Associate Professor at the School of Management in Fribourg, Switzerland), Simone Sinn (Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Münster, Germany), José Antonio David (Professor at the Business School of the Catholic University of Córdoba; the Center for Social Innovation of the University of San Andrés, and Globethics), and Amélé Ekué (Professor of ethics with a specialization in intercultural ethics, migration, religion, violence and peace, and the Academic Dean of Globethics) delivered stimulating lectures and workshops that delved critically into various aspects of inclusive peace and responsible governance. read more

In collaboration with the Association for Asian Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada will host the 2024 AAS-in-Asia Conference from July 9-11 in Yogyakarta. With around 1,000 people, this is a must-attend event for researchers both inside and outside of Asia.

The theme of the conference is “Global Asias,” which offers a fresh perspective on history, theory, and methodology while examining the diversity, complexity, and dynamics of Asia in relation to both its obvious and hidden links with other parts of the world and with Asia itself from antiquity to the present. The AAS-in-Asia Conference is held in Indonesia, where pluralism lives in its history, constitution, culture, languages, religions, and physical geography. The city of Yogyakarta will be well suited for our intellectual and cultural exchange in global Asia. read more