At the beginning of their semester, ACICIS Indonesian Business, Law and Society students are enrolled in a compulsory Indonesian Language and Culture class at the Centre for International Language and Culture Studies (CILACS). This class is taught at a beginner, intermediate, or advanced level, and provides students with the opportunity to gain an understanding of Indonesian culture and language, with the support of the Universitas Islam Indonesia faculty staff and student buddies. At the conclusion of the semester, students have the opportunity to participate in cultural activities organised by CILACS, this semester these activities included Jemparingan (Javanese Archery), Batik design, and Javanese traditional dance.
On Thursday 6th October accompanied by their lecture, Ms Heni, Brenton Wilson from Murdoch University and James Ritchie from the University of Tasmania had the opportunity to participate in Jemparingan (traditional Javanese archery) at Padepokan Jemparingan Dewodanu Maguwoharjo. In Javanese archery, the archer must remain seated and must have precise body positioning and posture. The students also had chance to try on Javanese traditional dress, while practising Jemparingan.
Lisa Van Toor from Murdoch University, Ashleigh McFarland from Griffith University, and Natalie Stuart from the University of Technology Sydney, had the opportunity to learn about batik at the Batik Museum Yogyakarta, learning about the batik design processes and the various types of Batik available in Java. The students also had opportunity to design & create their own Batik.
Rebecca Bowles from the University of Western Australia and Angela Godewatte from the University of Melbourne learned a full Javanese traditional dance at CILACS. They also had a chance to try on the traditional costume, and to work with traditional props.
