Yogyakarta – Recently, Dr. Widyastuti Purbani, MA, a lecturer at YSU’s English Department, was invited to be a keynote speaker for two international conferences on literature in India. Her visit to India was meant to introduce Indonesian literature to the world as one of the most multicultural form of literature. On the occasion, she also encouraged the writing of Indonesian literature in English and translating them to other languages.

Mrs. Purbani was a speaker in the “International Conference on Revisiting English Language and Literature in a Multicultural Milieu” held on January 22nd, 2020. The conference was held at Shrimathi Devkunvar Bhatt Vhaisnav College for Women in Chennai, Tapil Nadu, India. She presented a speech on multicultural literacy ad multicultural literature from the perspective of an Indonesian. Mrs. Purbani addressed the problem of several religious and ethnic conflicts in Indonesia which threaten the country’s multiculturalism and the slogan of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika.

“Our old understanding about multiculturalism should be revisited. It should be redefined”, she wrote in her presentation, implying the need to revisit multiculturalism in Indonesia. “Literature cannot be limited to identity articulation and it shouldn’t expose merely representation of various cultural expression and values”, she added. Mrs. Purbani also emphasized the need to intensify the role of literature to teach awareness of multiculturalism to the youth. She admitted that there are several problems regarding the multicultural education in Indonesian schools, thus, calling for the need to revisit the school curriculum on multicultural literacy and empower it as soon as possible. “People should be willing to learn about their own cultures, but also feel secure enough to welcome and discuss what they can learn from other ones”, said Mrs. Purbani at the end of her presentation.

Mrs. Purbani was also invited to present her keynote speech in the “International Conference on Asian Literatures in English as an Asian Language” on January 23rd at the American College, in Tamil Nadu, India. On the occasion, she spoke about the writing of Indonesian literature in English. She underlined Indonesia’s historical background and also the role of Balai Pustaka that paved the way for Indonesian writers to write indigenous literature in Indonesian.

Further, Mrs. Purbani addressed a problem visible among Indonesian writers. “Indonesian writers have Indonesian readers in mind, Indonesian literature uses an inward looking mindset”, she said. Mrs. Purbani expressed her concern of this mindset as a challenge in delivering Indonesian literature to readers from other countries with different beliefs and perspectives. She also added the inlander mentality of Indonesian people and the problem of translation to be among the challenges for the cause.

Further, she concluded in her presentation that the millennial generation of Indonesian writers seems to be the hope to deliver Indonesian literature to the global audience. She underlined that many millennial writers are bold and proud enough to write in English despite the challenges they face. Mrs. Purbani also said that Indonesian children literature may also paved the way to further present Indonesian literature to the world, judging from the growing quality and quantity of bilingual Indonesian children literature. (uuz)