1st English Letters Undergraduate Conference (ELUC): An Experience To Share and To Learn
The conference aimed at giving students of English language and literature study programs an opportunity to share their thoughts and what they have learned about the field.
The first English Letters Undergraduate Conference was held at Universitas Sanata Dharma Campus 1, Yogyakarta, and was hosted by the English Literature study program on August 8th, 2017 from 7.00 to 14.30 WIB. The theme of the conference was “Why Studying Literature” and it had six sub-themes. It aimed at giving students of English language and literature study programs an opportunity to share their thoughts and what they have learned about the field so far. There were two keynote speakers.
The first speaker was a lecturer from Universitas Sanata Dharma named Elisabeth Arti Wulandari, Ph.D.. Her presentation was about “Problematizing the Status of Literature and Especially the Theater in Relation to the Question of Justice”. The second speaker was a lecturer from Universitas Gadjah Mada named Achmad Munjid, Ph.D.. His presentation was about “Revisiting Fiction in a Troubled World”. Besides the keynote speaker sessions, there were about 34 topics/articles presented by around 47 students from 12 universities all around Indonesia.
TI had an opportunity to become one of the presenters in ELUC. My research paper was titled “Unmasking Indonesian Culture Through Literature”. In writing my research paper, I was advised by my lecturers, Miss Silvia and Miss Hanna. My paper analysed the westernization in Indonesian popular literatures, such as teenlit and metropop using the theory of postcolonialism. During the conference, I was assigned to present my paper in the second session alongside two other presenters from other universities in the same room. After the parallel presentation sessions, we had a closing ceremony, where the committee distributed a certificate to each presenter and participant.
From this experience, I learned how to make a research paper and present it in front of public, and I also gained more knowledge about literature and linguistics from other students’ presentations. It was indeed a great opportunity for me to join the first English Letters Undergraduate Conference. All in all, the conference was very beneficial for students to improve our knowledge about English literature and linguistics. I hope many other UDE students will be encouraged to experience this kind of opportunity in the future. (Syahveina Kartasentana)