What will heritage preservation be in the future? | Nyararai

 Fig 1.Great Zimbabwe National Monument

My research proposal is inspired by my working experience as a Curator at Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site in my home country of Zimbabwe. As a curator, some of my responsibilities have been to conduct condition assessment surveys and inspection of archaeological sites. Zimbabwe is richly endowed with dry stone structures which were a product of a phenomenon associated with state formation across southern Africa which archaeologists have named as the Zimbabwe culture.  

The Boxing Arena: A Place In Central European University

September 26th,2017 by CYNTHIA ADJOVI  MAWULI

  

My name is Cynthia Mawuli, a Ghanaian and student from Central European University studying in Budapest, Hungary as part of the cultural heritage program through a scholarship, As a master student, my first year coursework is focused on getting theoretical foundations necessary for me to undertake thorough a research on transmission and embodiment of heritage- an analysis of Adinkra symbology on traditional clothing in Ghana. I am excited about the possibilities this course offers in that in just about a few weeks into this program, my mind has been blown about the depth of knowledge and discoveries in the field.  I come from a culture and a people whose past is as cherished as the present and the existing romance, I thought at the time of leaving Ghana, was second to none. 

In the land called "DILEMMA" by Hilda Andoh

In the land called "DILEMMA"

As I started my journey with my destination in mind with map out routes to take whether right or left, I packed my stuffs into my travelling bag. I got ready for the day I planned for, knowing I took all necessary items needed to aide and make my journey a less burdensome one. The said day came, I set off. During the course of journey, I bumped into many port holes until I came to a junction called the ‘DILEMMA’. At that particular junction, there were different routes which was not indicated on my map:  right, left, center and also a roundabout turn. As confused as I was and wasn’t able to decipher which way to take until, a good Samaritan approached and directed me to the town of my destination. As much as I was helped to reach my destination, I still got distracted on the way, but determined to reach it at all cost.

The Dilemma of finding Relevance | Sanchari

Before embarking on my journey from a small town in India to the capital of a European nation, I had thought that I had a clear idea of my research topic,of what I wanted to focus on during the course of my studies at CEU. But as it turns out, I was wrong to have assumed that digital documentation would only aid in the preservation and presentation of heritage - especially intangible heritage.

STANZIN D. NAMGAIL | THE DIVERSE CULTURE AND THE CHANGE

The dying art of folk music tradition in ladakh.         

Everyone would have struggled a lot searching for a suitable topic. It was same for me when I got to know about CEU and went in a deep thought what my topic should be. But it didn't took long to decide my topic as it was there in front of me all the time the neglected heritage and the changing socio-economic perspective. I had met with many enthusiastic people with full of resources and heard them talking about the problem to facilitate them but they were all lack of opportunity but I     had the opportunity to bring up the problem and study them and can make a change    

Eszter | The relevance of a roof

We just had to write an essay. And we were just forced to read 30 pages of a book. Both terrible. 

But I went home and when I was asked how do I like CEU, I started to talk about the book. The book was The art of relevance by Nina Simon. It deals with the question of how can you make people to come and see your exhibition, your presentation or read your thoughts? Make your topic relevant to them. It means that they need to have a basic connection with that. They need to find something in your topic that is already in them but that is offering something new as well.

But there is also a vital rule: that you can't use trics. You can't cheat.

Gulnoza | Chasing a ghost

My uncertainties persisted, and my question marks were still there. Since my first entry I’ve had other new classes. Some of them were exciting, some were irrelevant. I’ve struggled. The idea was out there, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I felt frustration building up inside. I was desperately looking for any hints, any signs, just like I do when I run astray somewhere in the midst of a foreign neighborhood and look for familiar buildings and cafes, or fall back upon the google map help for that matter. But the “Mind Palace” doesn’t work that way. I think I realized it after having received Joseph’s email saying that we could go beyond the sites we’d visited for putting our academic essay together. That being said, I could look elsewhere, I could have the liberty of choosing research sources myself. So I said to myself, “Come down, Gulnoza, you’re on a familiar turf now, just break free and go with the flow”. Then I asked myself where I feel most comfortable and at peace. The answer was MUSEUMS! Wherever I’ve traveled, New York, Moscow, Washington, London, Istanbul, Bangkok to name a few, museums had always been in my must-see list. Why didn’t I think about it earlier? Maybe I figured going to museums would be part of our program anyway. I don’t know. But it doesn’t really matter now.

Karen Culver | Thesis Thoughts 1

Aim of Thesis

Broadly the aim of the thesis currently hasn’t changed but I am even more aware of the challenges than when drafting the proposal.  A shift in direction is possible although not yet essential or specifically desirable.

S.Yeshi | The Crossword of Choosing a Thesis Topic

Every topic looks alike.

I thought I had a thesis topic in place when I first applied for the masters program from home with a little knowledge of it being an unsolved crossword. 

We always have more than one word that would fit into a fill-in of the crossword puzzle or none at all in a crossword attempt. But the worse I realise in this thesis puzzle, it is harder than a crossword you have attempted on a literary page of a newspaper. It demands moths of input, several of head scratch and ample of time to figure out the right vocabulary. 

Gulnoza | First entry

My head is a mess.

Ok, when I was thinking about my application and research topic I was kind of clear about what interests me. At the time the central idea was preserving objects of tangible and intangible culture through visual media, and it still is. However, developing a concept by using your impressions and perceptions is one thing, but when you are exposed to various research sources that are meant to help you shape up your ideas is completely different. Like, for instance, Joseph took us to the places of memory across Deak Ferenc and Astoria, among which we saw an impressive statue to Gabor Sztehlo and a somewhat comic statue to a newsboy.