Auditorium of Prof. Dr. Suwito, MA SPs UIN Jakarta, SPs NEWS – The Graduate School (SPs) of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta held the 1699th Doctoral Promotion Exam in the Auditorium Room of Prof. Dr. Suwito, MA on Monday, July 27, 2026 with promovendus Yudi Hermawan.

Yudi is a student of the Doctoral program in Islamic Studies with a concentration in Arabic Language and Literature. His dissertation is titled "Arabic Language in Pro-Palestinian Hashtag Activism: A Critical Discourse Analysis in the Vision of Islam".

Through this scientific research, Yudi dissected how Arabic was strategically used in hashtag activism on social media X (formerly Twitter) during the crucial period from October to December 2023.

This research departs from a strong hypothesis that hashtags in the digital era are no longer just technical instruments for grouping topics. Furthermore, hashtags have transformed into a digital discourse practice that condenses the representation of events, actors' identities, moral orientation, and strategies for distributing meaning in the global public space.

To test this assumption, Yudi compiled a very rich data corpus, namely 7,367 tweets in Arabic that included up to 36,436 hashtags. This massive data was then dissected using Teun A. van Dijk's socio-cognitive  model Critical Discourse Analysis approach, which was combined with Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques.

From the multi-method analysis, this study gave birth to three main findings that complement each other. At the micro level (text structure), hashtags have been shown to work effectively as a framing tool. The use of Arabic hashtags is able to shape the naming of actors, marking geopolitical space, emphasizing the intensity of conflict, as well as strengthening the anchor of humanitarian messages.

Meanwhile, at the meso level (the process of production and consumption of discourse), pro-Palestinian discourse is escalated through the active role of dominant actors. Strategies such as hashtag stacking , bilingual bridging (cross-cultural language presentation), and deployment patterns that are adaptive to the platform's algorithm are the main keys to winning the logic of digital visibility.

As for the macro level (social and ideological contestation), Arabic plays a role as a solid socio-cognitive medium. This language has proven to be effective in consolidating digital solidarity across countries, stabilizing the social representation of the people, and articulating ideology through moral evaluation and resistance to mainstream narratives.

The novelty of this doctoral research lies in its success in dissecting Arabic hashtags as an integrated discourse practice. Yudi succeeded in stitching micro-linguistic structures, tissue corpus patterns, the formation of social cognition, and ideological contestation into one integrated analytical framework that has not been touched by much previous research.

Theoretically, these findings extend the reach of Van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach into the realm of digital hashtag activism. This research also intersects closely with Jürgen Habermas's concept of deliberative public space, although the results of the study underscore that the potential for ideal discussion on platform X remains constrained by power asymmetry, algorithmic bias, visibility politics, and attention economy competition.

Yudi successfully defended his dissertation under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil, M.Ag, Prof. Dr. R. Yani'ah Wardani, M.Ag, and was tested in front of a board of examiners consisting of Prof. Dr. Zulkifli, MA, Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil, M.Ag, Prof. Dr. R. Yani'ah Wardani, M.Ag, Prof. Dr. Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, MA, Prof. Dr. Iik Arifin Mansurnoor, MA, Prof. Dr. Idris Thaha,  M.Si.

After paying attention to the dissertation writing, the comments of the examiner team and the promovendus' answers, the examiner team determined that Yudi Hermawan graduated with the title of Very Satisfactory. Yudi Hermawan is the 1699th Doctor in the field of Islamic Studies, doctoral program of the Graduate School of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. (Jay A)