First-year students from the SBM ITB took part in an immersive excursion to villages in Majalengka on May 20. During the four-day, three-night activity, students lived among residents, gaining first-hand insight into community life and culture while applying knowledge gained in class.
Part of the “Social Order Studies” course, the excursion involved 344 students. They were encouraged to engage directly with residents and village leaders through observation and informal discussions.
On the first day, students gathered information on local objects, places, daily activities, and key community figures. On the second and third days, they participated in village activities and deepened their interaction with residents. Each evening, students held evaluation sessions with their tutors to review and discuss the data they had collected. On the final day, students completed their fieldwork and confirmed the sufficiency of their data.
Through direct interaction and detailed field notes, students documented various aspects of village life, including the use of the local Sundanese language, everyday technological practices, agricultural social structures, and local art forms. These observations were then linked to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a global framework for achieving a sustainable future.
The culmination of the excursion is a comprehensive report and ethnography that reflects students’ field experiences.
“I now feel more comfortable speaking with the locals, even though there are language barriers,” said Aushaff Farros, one of the participating students.
Farros noted that the excursion was a valuable experience, helping him build understanding and empathy for the local community. He expressed hope that the program could be extended in the future to explore the business aspects of rural life in greater depth. This, he added, would enable students not only to study ethnography but also to apply management principles in real-world contexts and gain a deeper understanding of their surroundings.
