This is an announcement to invite you to the CSEAS Colloquium for June 2013.

Date & Time: Friday, 21 June 2013, 16:00~

Place: Middle-sized Meeting Room (No.332), 3rd Floor, Inamori Foundation
Building, Kyoto University

Speaker: Dr. Suhardja D. Wiramihardja, Visiting Research fellow of CSEAS
and Professor of Astronomy Research Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung.

Title:
Current Studies on Ethnoastronomy in Indonesia.

Abstract:
This presentation will introduce current studies on ethnoastronomy in Indonesia. In the first part, I will give a brief history of astronomy in the country as well as a short background of ethnoastronomy in general. Some results of the studies conducted by Indonesian and foreign researchers for several ethnic groups with various aspects of cultures will be presented. Indeed, knowledge of the starry sky and its constellation was common in many ethnic groups amongst the natives of Indonesian archipelago. A season keeping system based on appearance and disappearance of certain stars or star clusters was recognized in many ancient ethnic groups and applied mainly by farmers to the agricultural cycle. Knowledge of the sky was woven into the textures of life in such forms as : mythology, astronomy-related folklores, ritual behaviors. A recent study suggests that an alignment of Borobudur-Pawon-Mendut temples is similar with the alignment of the Orion Belt stars. In the latter part of this presentation, I will give results of a study in exploring astronomy-related culture of the indigenous Sundanese people, the ethnic group of 43 million people who live in west part of Java island.

Bionote：
Suhardja D. Wiramihardja, professor of astronomy, Institut Teknologi
Bandung, obtained his doctorate in astronomy from Kyoto University with
specialty in Physics of Galaxy. His publications are mostly on
star-forming regions and galactic clusters. Recently he has included
ethnoastronomy within his research scope. He is currently a visiting
research fellow in CSEAS, Kyoto University.