Study Visit From Aceh, North Sumatra, Indonesia 14 - 17 April 2024

Last summer term, from April 14 to 17, 2024, a study group from Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh, Indonesia – consisting of Prof. Dr. Saiful Akmal and 13 students from various disciplines – visited our Institute as part of a DAAD-funded study trip.

Group picture in front of the Freiburg theatre on the day of arrival

Saiful Akmal during his talk on “The Language of Election in Post-Conflict Aceh Society”

Saiful Akmal, who is Professor of Language, Culture and Communication at the Department of English Language Education of the Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, gave a public lecture on “The Language of Election in Post-Conflict Aceh Society” in which he analyzed the political and rhetorical discourses that were used by the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the post-civil war province of Aceh. His lecture was attended by students and colleagues from various departments at the University of Freiburg and ended with a cheerful get-together with Indonesian food and drinks at our institute.

Lecture on economic anthropology with Mechthild von Vacano

The students from Aceh participated in regular seminars, joined our Indonesian language course and several activities which we organised especially for them.  In a lecture on economic anthropology, they learned for example about the dimensions of cash transfers while they experimented with ethnographic observations in public places in Freiburg as part of an Urban Anthropology seminar.

Joining the Indonesian class of Ibu Sien

Presenting the insights from observing street life in public spaces in Freibug

The study group from Aceh was also invited to visit the Global Qu’ran Project, an interdisciplinary research project led by Prof. Dr. Johanna Pink on the historical, exegetical, socio-political and linguistic dimensions of Muslim engagement with the Qu’ran. Doctoral researcher Yulianingsih Riswan welcomed them and introduced them to the activities of the project team.

Screenshot of the film “Ajarkan Aku Aceh” showing the The Aceh Tsunami Museum 

In a joint movie night, Freiburg and Aceh students also watched and discussed the Indonesian film entitled “Ajarkan Aku Aceh” or “Teach Me about Aceh” which explores the biased perception of Aceh after the 2004 tsunami, and how disaster mitigation education has become deeply embedded in Acehnese society.

The study group's visit was rounded off with an excursion to the Black Forest, where the students were introduced to the tradition of cuckoo clocks at Titisee lake by our Indonesian teacher Ibu Sien. 

We very much enjoyed the visit of the study group from the Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and the academically as well as personally enriching exchange!