Edi Sedyawati

Edi Sedyawati binti Iman Sudjahri (born 28 October 1938 in Malang; died 12 November 2022 in Jakarta)^[1] was an Indonesian archeologist and historian.^[2][3][4] She was a professor of archeology at the University of Indonesia,^[5][6] Chairperson of the university's Department of Javanese Letters and Center for Humanities and Social Sciences and also Chair of the Department of Dance at the Jakarta Institute for Arts.^[7] She also served as Indonesia's Director General of Culture in the Ministry of Education and Culture from 1993 to 1999.^[8][9]

Sedyawati studied various forms of Indonesian dance in Ikatan Seni Tari Indonesia,^[10] and in 1961 she performed in the Indonesian culture mission to China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and the USSR.^[8] Although the primary purpose of the culture mission was soft diplomacy to Indonesia's allies, in 2006 Sedyawati wrote in a reflection that the performers primarily benefitted by networking with Indonesians from diverse cultural backgrounds and learning about the various styles of dance and performance art in the archipelago.^[11]

In 1960, Sedyawati's work on dating carved statues near Karawang contributed toward proving that the ancient Tarumanagara kingdom embraced Hinduism.^[12]

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