15 students of International Cultural and Business Studies from University Passau conducted an excursion to Indonesia at the beginning of April under the supervision of Kristina Großmann and the co-supervision of Lita Priatna and Katharina von Braun. They visited partner universities and research institutions in Bogor as well as the National Park Gunung Gede Pangrango. The German students conducted small research projects together with Indonesian students in order to get insights into current issues and socio-cultural aspects in Indonesia.
Projects included visiting a punk community, meeting street musicians, approaching poverty and slums in Jakarta. Students focused as well on ecological issues as urban gardening and the community garbage collecting systems. They also addressed the many roles of the scooter, visited traditional night markets at 4 am in the morning in Bogor and indulged in Indonesian food culture. Students approached as well the merge between traditional and modern batik and conducted focus group discussions with German and Indonesian students on beauty ideals and gendered role models. They visited the faculty of Human Ecology (FEMA) at Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), the Anthropology department of the University of Indonesia (UI) and the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) – three institutions with strong collaboration ties with the Chair of Comparative Development and Cultural Studies - Focus Southeast Asia at the University Passau. The visit of the Botanical Garden in Bogor was another highlight. Melani Abdulkadir-Sunito and Satyawan Sunito, both from IPB, gave them explanations about its historical backgrounds as well as about the plants in the park.