29 September 2025
Anita Kartika Pasaribu
FIB USU PR - On Monday, September 29, 2025, the History Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of North Sumatra (FIB USU), held a guest lecture titled "Plantation Society Culture" "Topic: The Camera." Dr. Will Davis served as the resource person, and Muhammad Rasyidin, M.A., moderated the event. This guest lecture was conducted online via Zoom Meeting as part of efforts to strengthen the quality of learning within the History Study Program, FIB USU.
This guest lecture was held over three sessions during September 2025 and was attended by lecturers and students from the History Study Program, FIB USU. The event featured speakers with expertise in social and cultural history, particularly in the study of plantation societies and their representation through visual media.
The Dean of FIB USU stated that this guest lecture aimed to enrich students' understanding of the course material through an interdisciplinary perspective. The theme of Plantation Society Culture, with a focus on "The Camera," was deemed relevant to help students understand the role of cameras and visual documentation as important sources in historical studies, particularly in recording the social and cultural dynamics of plantation communities.
In their presentations, the speakers explained how cameras and photography served as historical representational media, recording the lives of plantation communities, power relations, and social conditions during specific periods. They also discussed the use of photographs and visual archives as historical sources, which require a critical approach in the analysis and interpretation process.
The speakers also emphasized that visual documentation not only serves as a complement to written sources but also has significant historical value in revealing aspects of community life often not recorded in textual archives. Through visual studies, students were encouraged to understand plantation history more contextually and in-depth.
The discussion session was interactive and active with student participation. Various questions were raised regarding methods for analyzing visual sources, the validity of photography as a historical source, and opportunities for developing visual archive-based historical research in local and regional history studies.
By holding the Guest Lecture Plantation Society Culture “Topic: The Camera”, the History Study Program of FIB USU hopes to improve the quality of the learning process, broaden students' academic horizons, and encourage the development of students' critical analysis skills in the study of social and cultural history, especially those based on visual sources.
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