(SOLO) Center of Excellence Javanologi, Universitas Sebelas Maret (PUI Javanologi UNS) held an International Youth Javanese Diaspora Webinar with the topic “Digital Storytelling: Connecting Javanese Roots through Digital Platforms.” In particular, this event invited four talented young women of Javanese descent including Morgan Djotaroeno (Javanese Diaspora Netherlands), Christa Wongsodikromo (Independent Researcher, Guest Lecturer University of Michigan, Boardmember of JID-NL), Muthia Putri Meilania (Utrecht University Netherlands, Master’s Degree Program) and Esther Poredjo (Assistant Business Unit Manager & Java Trail Coordinator, Clevia Academy & Clevia Park, Suriname) because it coincides with International Women’s Day which falls on March 8 2024. Activities are carried out online via virtual Zoom and broadcast live via PUI’s YouTube live streaming Javanology at 16.00 WIB (Indonesian time), 10.00 am (Amsterdam time), and 06.00 am (Suriname time).
This webinar was opened directly by the head of PUI Javanologi UNS, Prof. Sahid Teguh Widodo, M.Hum., Ph.D. He thanked all participants and speakers who attended this activity. Especially the Ambassador of the Republic of Suriname, H.E. Erick Rahmat Moertabat. It is hoped that this activity can become a regular activity that is held every 3 or 6 months. “Thank you to all International Webinar participants who took part in this activity which was attended by 10 countries including Indonesia, the Netherlands, Suriname, America, Germany, Australia, China, Turkmenistan, Syria and Chad,” he stressed.
Morgan Djotaroeno, familiarly called Morgan, presented material on “Javanese identity in the Netherlands, past, future, present”. This girl of Javanese descent in the Netherlands shared her experience of getting to know the Javanese language and family dynamics, then becoming aware of Javanese traditions and ceremonies, traditional clothing and the diversity of food, developing curiosity by exploring more information to understand it more deeply and the last is exploration by means of travel and connect with local Javanese people and build community.
Likewise, Christa Wongsodikromo, a young woman of Javanese Surinamese descent who has Wonogiri blood from her great-grandfather, said that her unplanned visits to her ancestral land in 2019 and 2022 had a special impression. Even though they gather with distant family who don’t know them, let alone their language, they can still be connected through the heart. To the extent that he had to take soil from her great-grandfather’s yard as a memento to his country. In fact, she feels quite a significant difference from where she lives now and feels that the traditions and habits of Indonesian (Javanese) society give him a sense of comfort. With the Javanese people, she feels like she is a distant relative of the Surinamese Javanese people, but for the Dutch people, she is just a Surinamese person. Christa (her nickname) has the hope that the Surinamese Javanese and Dutch people will become more harmonious again.
One of the other speakers was Muthia Putri Meilania, or familiarly called Muthia. As a Javanese girl who was born and raised in Sragen, Central Java, and is now studying for a Master’s degree at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, she shares her experiences from her perspective as a Javanese there. She explained her experience starting with the food, which according to her, she was not used to the taste at first but got used to it after, adapting to the weather, which was very different from Indonesia, namely winter to snow, as well as the people who were of course different from Indonesia starting from the way they dressed and the way they chatted. Muthia also expressed her experience of meeting the Javanese Diaspora and having the opportunity to visit Mrs. Kathleen Kimpoel’s family home. In the atmosphere of the Javanese Diaspora house there, Javanese culture is still very much felt; for example, in Mrs. Kathleen’s family, she still carries out the Nyinom culture, which is carried out by young people with older people.
The final speaker was Esther Poredjo, an Artistic Culture Bearer of Javanese Culture who comes from Suriname. The woman who is familiarly called Esther is also Miss Indra Maju 2014, Proud Javanese Diaspora in Suriname, Secretary of the IACS Alumni Club Suriname, and Groupleader of Line Dancegroup Isthika. As a descendant of Surinamese Javanese, she has some experience in the fields of dance, gamelan (karawitan), and is a speaker of Indonesian and Javanese. In 2011, she shared her experience when she was given the opportunity to take part in the Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship Program from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and revealed that Indonesia was her second home which was rich in authenticity and authentic sources of Javanese culture.
