In its 5th year, the International University Symposium on Humanities and Arts or INUSHARTS 2020 was held virtually due to the pandemic. The theme was “Humanities in the Time of Crisis” in response to the pandemic impacting society with a variety of cultural and social problems. Plenary and panel presentations were focusing on 6 sub-themes, which are (1) Inequality in Contemporary Society, (2) Cultural Heritage & Museums, (3) Environmentality in The Humanities, (4) De-regulating Information Literacy, (5) Language & Community and (6) Trajectory of The State. All the plenary and panel presentations are accessible on the YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/InushartsPlaylists).

As an annual international conference held by the Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, INUSHARTS has been an intellectual space for junior and senior scholars, mainly undergraduate and postgraduate students, lecturers, independent scholars, and practitioners, to share and discuss their innovative research works. Scholars were provided with the opportunities to present their research, provide feedback for others, and develop their repository of new and enriching knowledge.

The invited plenary speakers presented their state-of-the-art research works during the virtual conference which is important for the participants to engage in the international scholarships regarding research methodologies and frameworks. All subthemes were covered in the plenary sessions from Prof. Dr. Melani Budianta (Universitas Indonesia), Dr. Laksmi Adriani Savitri (Universitas Gadjah Mada), Jun.Prof. Dr. Elsa Clavé (Hamburg University, Germany), Dr. Colleen Morgan (University of York, UK), Annisa R Beta, Ph.D. (University of Melbourne, Australia), Dr. Monika Winarnita (Deakin University, Australia), Dr. Luci Pangrazio (Deakin University, Australia), and Dr. Elena Burgos Martinez (Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands).

From 157 articles that were presented in the panel sessions, 51 articles were selected to be published in this international proceeding. The articles were written by mostly emerging scholars in the Faculty of Humanities collaborating with their supervisors contribute to the dynamic knowledge production. Each article opens up new discussions concerning the problematic issues on the six subthemes mentioned earlier. Issues concerning popular culture and the representation of minorities, problems of race, gender, social class, and other elements of identity, the role of language in the society, history, and its politics, library and information management, and also philosophical debates could be found in this proceeding. Furthermore, this proceeding is expected to engage in academic discussions on interdisciplinary issues related to the current crisis.

Last but not least, INUSHARTS 2020 was held with the support and assistance of the Dean, Vice Deans, Managers, lecturers, staff, and students from the Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia. As the goal is to stimulate more rigorous academic debates on emerging issues in the Humanities and Arts, INUSHARTS will continue to expand its platform and disseminate research works that will also benefit society in general.

The Organizing Committee of INUSHARTS 2020 (Ghilman Assilmi , Julia Wulandari, Adhe I. Djajaatmadja, Mulyani, Lisda Liyanti, Maria Regina Widhiasti, Pratidina Sekar Pembayun, Danang Aryo Nugroho, Chaidir Ashari, Yudi Bachrioktora, and Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan).