Janneke van den Brand, one of the Dutch participants in the International Summer School, portrays the meaning of pluralism through a painting. “Ik belangstellend voor afbeelding; ik verliefd en houden van schilderen,” she said, asserting how she is very fond of painting. Spending her spare time painting imaginary women as her image object, this student of Humanities Studies at Utrecht, the Netherland, asserted that she has been painting with various colors of paint so far. The paint she chose is Acrylic, for it appears cheerfully on the canvas. Unlike other palettes that tend to use only single color, Janneke often uses various colors on her painting. She believes that each color has its own meaning and it supports the existence of other color.
While showing some among hundreds of her painting collections on the computer, Janneke, 24, opined that various color can also represents various culture, human, and religion. As the color mixes beautifully one to another, so does the phenomenon of diversity within this world. “In painting, you see people in the same level and everybody is right,” said a young woman who once had an exhibition with some of her friends in the Netherlands.
Janneke also explains that the discourse on pluralism in the Netherlands is not as apparent as it is in Indonesia. The Dutch and other people who have stayed there for a long period of time, she said, are seeing pluralism as something hard to deal with. “It’s only because Muslim culture doesn’t fit with the Dutch culture; not to mention the major religion of Protestantism there.” To her, Indonesia is blessed by its phenomenon of diversity.
The best thing she can do for her country, said Janneke who is labeled “Democratic Princess” by her classmates at the International Summer School, is through art. And, she chose painting to express her emotions, messages, and hopes. She believes that delivering a message through art is very efficient in seeing that all people love art. She holds an immense wish that the major group of people in her country will soon be enlightened to see the existence of other people as a new color to complete the nuance of life.
However, she never thinks spending her entire life to be a professional painter. “I am looking forward to having a chance to endure an internship at the Kosmopolis Institute.” Being a pluralist-humanist is one among the aims she wants to pursue. The palette of Acrylic paints, canvases, and brushes, at all cost, will always follow her. (Gie)

The International Summer School has been running well since it opened on July 13, 2009. The school has been supporting the participants to develop critical thinking in dealing problems in the society. Through lectures, exposures, discussions and common activities, the participants are learning a great deal of things related to the issue of promoting pluralism, human development and human rights.
On the first week, the participants learned some issues, which are the main topics of the program, such as identity, recognition of the other, democracy, diversity, sustainable development and some other related issues. These were in the introduction section of the Summer School.
As one of the exercises in the introductory section, the participants learned and evaluated some prejudices that they think exist in their countries, and also prejudices from people from other countries to their country. Interestingly, the participants were open in explaining every prejudice they knew, and they discussed the prejudices to get some clarifications. It was like a dialogue that respects each other.
Besides the dialogue or sections in the class, during the first week, the participants visited some places in Yogyakarta. The scheduled places the participants visited were Ullen Sentalu (Museum of Javanese Art and Culture at Kaliurang) and the Merapi view at Kali Adem. At these places, the participants and some lecturers learned the history of Javanese Art & Culture and the history of Mt. Merapi. It made them become closer to Yogyakarta, and its phenomena. The scheduled activity not only made them closer to Javanese Arts & Cultures, but also it reduced prejudices which they discussed in class.
As for the non-scheduled places, the participants visited Malioboro and Kraton, including Alun-alun Kidul. The activity built intimacy among them. They were ecstatic when they were there.
After they visited the places, they then focused their attention in reading the articles given to them as the main sources for lectures and discussions in class. The participants were active in discussing some issues in the articles which were articulated by the lecturers. Mostly, the lectures and discussions were based on theoretical frameworks and field experiences they had, especially as practitioners in a civil society.
Principally, the activities during the first week, the participants became more open to talk to each other. They also developed deeper understanding of the main issues and purposes of the Summer School. Their encounter, as people from different places of the world, was really fundamental in building inclusive perspectives and values to live and work together with others. (JMI)

Dr. Henk Manschot, one of the coordinators of International Summer School on Human Development and Human Rights is worried to see the imbalance occurred between humanity and the earth. “Human being has taken in this earth more than the earth can provide; so, they are responsible for biodiversity extinct,” said the professor of humanities in Utrecht, the Netherlands, who have been involved in discourse of humanity and sustainable development throughout his academic career.
On the discussion that occurred at a quiet corner in WMM last week after he addressed a lecture of “Sustainable Development: Rethinking the Relationship between Ecology, Ethics and Pluralism”, he explicitly brought forward the gloomy fact of human population and consumption that rapidly eliminated the Earth’ ecology. “The total of humanity’s ecological footprints is estimated almost at 2.3 of planet Earth, we are rapidly growth from 1 billion in the 19th century to 6-7 billion now.” The quality of humanity, he asserted, is on its willingness to respectfully put the Earth at the centre of human life.
Started his ecological concern in 2004, Prof. Manschot who is also known as one of the key players in organizing the International Summer School proposed an idea of time diagnosis toward the humanity’s ecological footprint. The keenness of humanity should start to measure and diagnose how much the natural resources of biodiversity human had taken from the Earth. He opined that the answer of humanity toward this vexed question found in an effort to implement a clean technology, clear city-building, political will, and religious cosmology, from interpretation to action.
“Start to see water, trees, and a flock of Hummingbirds as not merely an instrument but a friend may be a very positive romanticism to me. Can I consider this as a new ethic?” said the Director of Kosmopolis Institute who just returned from a safari in Africa wilderness with his wife Agnes, with a slight smile. Imitating the spirited voice of US politician Al Gore who quoted a famous speech of Chief Seattle, leader of the Duwamish Indians, Prof. Manschot ended the chat that afternoon saying, “For the earth does not belong to man, it is man who belongs to the earth. Man does not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.” (Gie)

The opening ceremony of the International Summer School started at 9:40 am at the 5th floor of Pascasarjana building, Gadjah Mada University.
The summer school is a joint initiative of the University for Humanistic and Hivos as partners of the Dutch Humanist Alliance together with the Center for Religious & Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS) and the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) in Bangalore, India. It is also in cooperation with the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) in Kampala, Uganda.
During the first day, the participants and lecturers were happy to meet each other doing some interesting activities. They enjoyed interpreting pictures related to Human Rights, Human Development and Pluralism as it is the main theme of the program.
There are 18 students participating in the said program who come from different backgrounds. There are four students from Holland, four from Uganda, four from India and six from Indonesia.
CRCS, as host, prepared all things in running the summer school which concludes on August 7, 2009. The lecturers and participants expressed their gratitude to CRCS for preparing and providing them all the needed materials for the said program. (JMI)

After a series of through selection, the committee of the International Summer School on Human Development and Human Right has chosen 6 applicants from Indonesia to participate this year on the subject of Pluralism and Development. This International Summer School will be held in Yogyakarta, by the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) UGM, on July 13, 2009 to August 7, 2009.
The chosen participants are Ayuandini Sherria Puteri (Program Director of the Association for Critical Thinking), Dalil Saherman (staff at the National Commission on Violence against Women), Siti Habibah Jazila (staff at IHAP Institute for Women’s Right), Pusvyta Sari (staff at the Foundation for Islamic and Social Studies), Ivana Prazic (PhD student, ICRS Yogyakarta), and Jimmy Marcos Immanuel (MA Student, CRCS UGM).
The other participants are coming from the Netherland, India, and Uganda. This event has been holding by The Kosmopolis Institute of the University for Humanistic Studies in the Netherland, in cooperation with Hivos and its partner for Pluralism Knowledge Program in India, Indonesia and Uganda.
On Friday morning, 17 April 2009, all of the Indonesian participants had held a meeting at CRCS Meeting Room. The meeting was led by Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir, the Indonesia Regional Coordinator of this International Summer School concurrently the Executive Director of CRCS. The aim of the meeting purposely was to endow the participants with updated issues with regard to pluralism, human development, and human right by getting acquainted with each other.
At the end of the meeting, Siti Habibah, one of the participants, asserted that, “Gathering, discussing and learning together with others from different areas and cultural backgrounds would contribute the strategies I have been constructing to promote pluralism in multicultural societies.” (Gie)

Judul: Kuman Mahwadhi-Wadhi: Simbol Harmonisasi Budaya dan Agama

Penulis: Thisye Ollyvie Pangkerego (CRCS, 2006)

Kata-kata Kunci: agama, budaya, harmonisasi, akulturasi, simbol

Abstrak:

Kuman Mahwadhi-wadhi adalah kegiatan makan bersama yang selalu ada dalam setiap ritus agama Kristen di Kembes, salah satu desa di Minahasa. Kuman Mahwadhi-wadhi ini adalah suatu harmonisasi yang dihasilkan dari akulturasi antara agama Kristen dengan budaya lokal serta purifikasi dari agama Kristen. Konsep yang dikemukakan Clifford Geertz mengenai kebudayaan sebagai “Sebuah pola-pola makna (a pattern of meanings) atau ide-ide yang memuat simbol-simbol yang dengan masyarakat menjalani pengetahuan mereka tentang kehidupan dan mengekspresikan kesadaran mereka melalui simbol-simbol itu”, merupakan suatu gambaran yang tepat dalam melihat dan menganalisis makna dari setiap simbol suatu sistem kebudayaan, yang begitu beragam.