UNS – A total of six people including lectures and students of University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, USA on Tuesday (06/11/2019) visited Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta. This visit was a respond of the cooperation between the both universities, which had been carried out previously, especially with the Faculty of Agriculture. On this occasion, UK also learned about the agriculture system in Java, its history and culture.
“This is an oversea program that we called agro-tropical ecology in sustainable technology. For a week in Solo, we want to learn how Javanese society manage their agriculture,” explained the chief group as well as the professor of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, Prof. Keiko Tanaka.
On this visit, they received a material from the Head of Cultural Studies Doctorate Program, Prof. Andrik Purwasito, about how local wisdom livens up the agriculture in Java.
“Indonesians, especially Javanese people, in developing the agriculture not only rely on the nature and technology but also believe in the aspect of trust in God. The religiosity aspect did not develop in the Western society although in the end, both technology and religiosity go hand in hand,” said Prof. Andrik in his lecture entitled Tradition of Genius Java in Processing Agriculture.
One of the Javanese local wisdom in the agriculture is exemplified by the tradition of satu suro night parade, where the people enthusiastically watched the march of the buffalos of the Kasunanan Palace heirloom, even fighting over the feces.
“This is a symbol of fertility in agriculture, so do not only see the mystical aspects and something like that,” he added.
Prof. Tanaka further explained the reason for choosing UNS as the place to learn and build the partnership. It is because of the credibility of UNS besides its location which is in the center of Javanese culture and its ecology which is alongside of the agriculture.
After the visit, Vice Rector of UNS for Academic Affairs, Prof. Ahmad Yunus said that with the visit and the partnership with an abroad university, this could accelerate the UNS’ goal to internationalize the campus. “Next, we will send our students and lecturers to attend summer course, internship, and other similar programs to expand the international activity of the students and lecturers,” he explained. Humas UNS/Try