The Media and Cultural Studies (KBM) Program held a Pre-Thesis Seminar for the 2023 cohort of master’s students. The event, which took place online, was attended by 31 students and was conducted over two days, from Wednesday to Thursday, March 22-20, 2025.
During the seminar, each student presented the progress of their thesis research and their future writing plans. Their presentations received feedback from reviewers who were KBM PhD alumni with research interests aligned with the students’ topics. Additionally, the discussion was open to fellow students and KBM alumni in attendance, allowing participants to exchange ideas and gain new perspectives to refine their theses.
The research topics explored by students were diverse, reflecting the broad scope of cultural and media studies. Some students focused on cultural industries, such as B-class film production practices, the dynamics of the publishing industry in Yogyakarta, the remediation of Thai Boys Love series, immersive experience consumption at music concerts, boypussy discourse in slash fiction, the trajectory of stand-up comedians in the comedy industry, decolonial praxis in short story collections, and product emulation practices in the bag industry.
Digital phenomena were also highlighted, including audience reception of disability model content, postcolonial readings of YouTube content, analysis of radical digital feminism in South Korea, platform-based food trading practices, counter-stereotypes of Gen Z on Instagram, the reproduction of sexuality discourse in condom and sex product advertisements, the construction of unemployment discourse in police public relations news, and the rise of dog and cat celebrities on TikTok.
In addition, discussions on lifestyle and culture further enriched the seminar, covering topics such as tattoo practices among women in East Nusa Tenggara, political consumerism and waste management in Yogyakarta, memory politics of the Kanjuruhan tragedy, masculinity discourse in “Mak Erot” practices, the cultural identity construction of elites in Cirebon and Indramayu, and the experiences and awareness of young civil servants in negotiating bureaucracy.
With such a wide range of research topics presented and discussed, this seminar is expected to serve as an inspiring platform for students to complete their theses while also enriching academic discourse in the field of cultural and media studies.
SDG 4 (Quality education), SDG 5 (Gender equality), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production), SDG 16 (Peace, justice and strong)