Three Months: Too complex terms?

  –English version available below–

Moin! Memasuki bulan ketiga di Jerman, mulai kerasa sibuk dan perlu adaptasi, terutama aspek pembelajaran. Pertama, otak dorman ini perlu dipanasin lagi karena udah lama ga sekolah. Terakhir sekolah itu 2014 :) Kedua, adaptasi sama sistem pendidikan di sini yang beda banget sama di Indo. Contohnya, di program gua, tiap minggu ada PR baca paper, yang nantinya didiskusiin di kelas.

Nah, ada satu paper yang lumayan menarik–sekaligus mengusik. Papernya ngebahas tentang penggunaan istilah "Sustainability" dan "Socio-ecological Transformation" (SET). Intinya, di paper itu bilang bahwa akhir-akhir ini istilah Sustainability semakin marak dipake, gaungnya dimana-mana. Tapi di dunia akademik itu sendiri malah dirasa kurang cocok, karena katanya kurang mampu merefleksikan kompleksitas yang sesungguhnya terjadi di masyarakat. Bahkan, istilah ini seringkali dipake sama oknum yang justru action-nya ga sustainable.

Lalu, istilah apa yang lebih cocok? Socio-ecological Transformation. Katanya istilah ini lebih mendalam dan komprehensif dalam melihat cara masyarakat memaknai dan mengorganisasi alam. Waktu dibahas di kelas, dosen gua kasih disclaimer bahwa istilah ini mungkin cuma lebih populer di kalangan akademisi Jerman aja, di negara lain belum tentu pake ini.

Buat gua pribadi, baca ini tentunya ngebuka perspektif baru. Tapi, ada satu hal yang ngeganjel. Setelah baca paper, kesan pertama gua adalah, Kenapa masalah istilah aja ribet banget? Sedangkan kalo turun ke lapangan atau masyarakat, kebanyakan juga belum tentu ngeh sama istilah-istilah sophisticated ini. Hati gua gelisah banget. Pertama, bisa ga sih kita lebih fokus sama action-nya aja? Atau tujuan utamanya aja? Mau itu Sustainability atau SET, kita sama sama sepakat bahwa, misalnya, nebang pohon berlebihan itu buruk karena ngurangin area resapan air dan akan ngerusak lingkungan. Kedua, gua khawatir kita cuma akan lompat dari satu istilah ke istilah lain tanpa ada dampak nyata buat pemulihan alam. Kalau nanti istilah SET bernasib sama kaya Sustainability, akan kah ada istilah baru lagi?

Tapiii kita liat ya dua tahun lagi apakah pemikiran gua akan berubah? Hahaha. Let's see. Karena waktu itu gelisahnya ga ilang-ilang, gua telepon Kinan. Kinan pernah S2 di Eropa dan gua yakin doi akan paham keresahan ini. Respons Kinan bikin adem kaya ubin masjid.

"Gapapa, Git. Wajar kalo kamu ngerasa banyak yang gak sesuai. Karena kayanya emang itu sistem yang universitas di Eropa mau deh. Jadi kalo pas akoh kuliah dulu, ada namanya sistem making, unmaking, dan remaking. Jadi kalo making itu kaya kita dikasih tau dulu teori dan practices apa aja yang udah ada dari berbagai konteks. Abis itu unmaking, apa yang udah kita tau dan pernah kita pelajari semuanya dibongkar abis-abisan, di-challenge sampe bikin kita mempertanyakan banyak hal kaya “Ini apaa??” gituu. Baru nanti terakhir remaking, pelan-pelan apa yang udah dibongkar tadi, kita rapihin sendiri dah tuh menggunakan teori dan konsep yang udah kita pelajarin, plus disesuaikan dengan konteks yang mau diterapin. Jadi, wajar banget kalo kamu sekarang ngerasa banyak yang gak sesuai. Ini proses buat ngeluasin horizon kamu, dan justru bagus, itu tandanya kamu mengikuti dengan baik alur sistem yang mereka terapin. Gitu...”

Baru deh gua merasa mendingan. Vielen Dank, Kinan! Bitte schön, kata Kinan.

Cerita tentang Jerman:

Moin! My First Month in Germany

Cerita yang ada Kinan-nya:

Hati Kecil
The Art of Friendship - Kinan
Kita Bahagia Meski Tak Kemana-mana

In the end, Alles ist gut :)

Moin! Entering my third month, life started getting busy and full of adjustments, especially in terms of studying. First, I need to warm up my long-dormant brain since I haven't been in school for more than a decade. Second, I need to adapt to an education system that is very different from the one in Indonesia. For example, in my program, we are assigned to read academic papers every week, which are then discussed in class.

Speaking of papers, there is one that really intrigued me. It talked about the use of the terms "Sustainability" and "Socio-ecological Transformation" (SET). It said that the term Sustainability has become more and more popular and widely used in recent years. But, within academia, the term is critically questioned because it fails to capture the layers of complexity of what's really happening in society. Moreover, this term is often used by actors whose actions are far from sustainable.

So, what is considered a better term? Socio-ecological Transformation. They said that this term is more comprehensive and in-depth in capturing how societies perceive their relationship with nature and how they manage it. During the class discussion, my lecturer first gave a disclaimer that this term might be more commonly used among German academics only, and not necessarily in other countries.

Personally, reading this paper definitely opened up a new perspective. But, something kept bothering me. After reading it, my first impression was, Why is the debate over terminology so complicated? Whereas, when we go to communities and run a program there, many are not really familiar with these sophisticated terms. This made me feel uneasy. First, can't we just focus more on the actions? Whether we call it Sustainability or SET, we can all agree, for example, that massive deforestation is harmful because it reduces water absorption areas and damages the environment. Second, I worry that we might simply jump from one term to another without giving any meaningful impact on nature preservation. If one day SET has a similar ending to Sustainability, will we come up with yet another new term?

But well... let's see in two years, hahaha. Maybe my perspective will change. At that time, I called Kinan as the uneasy feeling still lingered. Kinan once studied in Europe, so I believe she would understand. Her response, as usual, calmed me down.

"It's okay, Git. It's understandable if you feel that many things don't quite sit right with you. I think that's how European universities actually want you to feel/to be. When I studied, there was this idea of making, unmaking, and remaking. First, making, you will learn the theories and practices from various contexts. Then comes unmaking, where everything you knew or learned is dismantled and challenged until you start questioning many things, like, "What the hell is this???" The last process, remaking, those small pieces are slowly reorganized using the theories and concepts you've learned, while connecting them with the context where you want to apply them. So, it's totally normal if you feel this way now. It's actually a good sign, it means that you follow their process well!"

After that, I felt much better. Vielen Dank, Kinan! Bitte schön, Kinan replied.

Story about Germany:

Moin! My First Month in Germany

Stories featuring Kinan:

Hati Kecil
The Art of Friendship - Kinan
Kita Bahagia Meski Tak Kemana-mana