DEPOK,
The Department of Communication Science, Postgraduate Program FISIP University of Indonesia again graduated a doctor through a Doctoral Promotion Session held in a hybrid manner on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at 14.00-16.00 WIB, at the Juwono Sudarsono Auditorium (AJS), Building F 2nd Floor, Campus FISIP UI Depok. The session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Ricardi S. Adnan as Chairman of the Session. The promoter team consisted of Prof. Dr. Billy K. Sarwono, M.A. and Dr. Camelia Catharina L.S., M.Si. as co-promoter. Also present as examiners were Prof. Dr. Ana Nadhya Abrar, M.E.S., Prof. Francisia SSE Seda, M.A., Ph.D., Prof. Dr. Donna Asteria, M.Hum., Dr. Irwansyah, M.A., and Whisnu Triwibowo, M.A., Ph.D..
Wayan Weda Asmara Dewi successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Interplay of Structure and Agency in Environmental Communication in the Context of Tourism Gentrification.” This dissertation examines how environmental communication practices are reproduced and negotiated through the relationship between customary structures and local community agency in the midst of tourism gentrification. The research was conducted in Padangtegal Traditional Village, Bali using an instrumental case study qualitative approach involving community groups, environmental organizations, and the government.
The research findings show that environmental communication in the village is not only a tool for conveying information, but also a pragmatic and constitutive process that is able to shape meaning and influence collective behavior change. Local values, such as Tri Hita Karana, become an important foundation in the collective actions of the community and pararem customary rules prove to be dynamic through the interplay between structure and agency.
In his academic speech, Wayan emphasized, “Environmental problems are not only seen in a top-down strategy that is only carried out by the government. I see that we as a society can be an agency in making changes through bottom-up environmental communication practices.”
This dissertation enriches Structuration Theory by adding the importance of local value-based collective action as a social force that encourages environmental sustainability. In terms of praxis, indigenous villages appear as strategic actors in designing and maintaining independent, adaptive, and sustainable waste management policies. At the end of the trial, Wayan Weda Asmara Dewi passed with a very satisfying predicate. She was recorded as the 160th Doctor of Communication Science as well as the 83rd female doctor from the Department of Communication Science FISIP UI. (MAP)
