FIB Unhas — The Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Hasanuddin (FIB Unhas) inaugurated the board of the Cultural Studies Postgraduate Student Association (I’MKB) FIB Unhas on Monday, June 26, 2025, located at the Prof. Mattulada Hall. This inauguration marks an important milestone in the history of FIB Unhas, as it is the first time a postgraduate program within FIB has an official student organization.
In his remarks, the Head of the Cultural Studies Program, Dr. Andi Faisal, S.S., M.Hum., stated that the establishment of this association is proof that the postgraduate program, which is only a few years old, has begun to organize its institutional system more structurally.
“When I returned from a visit to UGM several years ago, Prof. Akhmar was the first person to openly voice the importance of opening a Cultural Studies Program at FIB Unhas,” he said. According to him, the existence of the student association will provide a space for self-actualization while strengthening the program’s appeal to prospective students in the future.
Dr. Andi Faisal, S.S., M.Hum. also emphasized that culture is not merely the study of the past. “Culture is part of the present and the future. It exists in all aspects of life: politics, economics, technology, and power relations,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Prof. Dr. Andi Muhammad Akhmar, S.S., M.Hum., in his speech, said that the presence of a student organization at the postgraduate level is an important step in shaping the intellectual identity of the Cultural Studies Program at FIB Unhas.
He highlighted the importance of developing the program’s unique character. “Every campus has its own approach and uniqueness in cultural studies. At UGM, for example, the approach is very strong in media studies. At FIB Unhas, we need to determine a distinctive direction, so that our scientific development is relevant to the needs of society and the university’s policy direction,” explained Prof. Akhmar.
He also shared personal reflections on his journey as an academic. Starting from Regional Literature studies at the undergraduate level to earning a doctorate in literature, he admitted he began to open up to cultural studies approaches after intense interaction with colleagues in that field.
“At that point, I began to realize that culture is something living, continuously practiced, interpreted, and even becomes a space for political, economic, and power contestation,” he said.
He also mentioned that although he administratively now holds the title of Professor in the field of Literature and Culture, his passion remains in cultural studies as a space for reflection and social change.
With this inauguration, the Cultural Studies Postgraduate Student Association of FIB Unhas is expected to become a forum for intellectual growth, collaboration, and the production of critical cross-disciplinary discourse, in line with the spirit of FIB Unhas in strengthening its culture-based academic tradition. (*)
