UNAIR NEWS – Exploring inter-institutional collaboration, the Faculty of Humanities (FIB) Universitas Airlangga received Surabaya Mayor’s Appreciation for the encyclopedia of Surabaya’s history and culture launching, on Friday, December 23, 2022, at Pemuda Hall, Surabaya.

The Dean of FIB, Prof Dr. Purnawan Basundoro S S M Hum stated that the encyclopedia of Surabaya’s history and culture involved collaboration between two institutions, FIB UNAIR and Surabaya Archives and Library Office.

“The lecturers who took part in the project include Purnawan Basundoro and Kukuh Yudha Karnanta as the coordinator and editor. The authors are Abimardha Kurniawan, Samidi, Moch Jalal, Adrian Perkasa, and Ikhsan Rosyid Mujahidul Anwari, and Bramantio as the language coordinator and editor,” he said.

There were no significant challenges during the making of the encyclopedia the Surabaya Archives and Library Office administratively and financially supported the project.

Making the encyclopedia was counted as the realization of three pillars of higher education (Tridharma), especially as community service by FIB lecturers.

“This project is really interesting. Academically, the theme was in line with our studies at FIB,” he said.

The encyclopedia contains 36 entries, which were mostly taken from the cultural advancement objects in Surabaya. It covers language categories, historical buildings, traditional games, artists, traditional sports, historical places, traditional songs and arts, traditional technology, traditional ceremonies, historical events, traditional food, and the origin of the name ‘Surabaya’ and its history.

The project took 2 years to make in 2021 and 2022 for different objectives. The results were further combined to make the first book of the encyclopedia series.

“In 2021, the encyclopedia was made for online reading. We added the entries in 2022. The final results were combined to make the printed version,” Purnawan said.

The Dean hoped that the second book of encyclopedia series would be released in 2023 to complete the entries in the previous book.

“Hopefully, we can continue the second book of the encyclopedia in 2023 to continue the first series. We still have more than 400 entries to write,” he said.

Author: Monika Astria Br Gultom 

Editor: Feri Fenoria