As promised, some technical advice that you really don't need, but might make you laugh, from Catinca.

Chapter VI: Begin by being honest 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young student in possession of a thesis topic must be in need of advice. Luckily, there is plenty of it on offer here at CEU. 

As you may remember from my previous instalments, this whole thesis debacle started with a passion. As much as I was in love with my topic, I was very anxious to share that with faculty. This is an academic institution, right? 

Science!

Rigour!

Citations!

Theories! 

How could I walk into my supervisor's office with feelings as a methodology? But, dear reader, that is exactly what I did. I spoke openly with my supervisor, we discussed motivations and plans, and guess what? Not only was it a cathartic experience, it was productive as well. We came up with a plan! And a methodology! But I am getting ahead of myself. 

What I am trying to say is, be honest with your advisors. Tell them your fears, your ideas and do not be afraid to stand your ground. If you are very attached to an idea or concept, find arguments to convince them it is a good idea. Be creative in the ways you could integrate it in the thesis. You don't have to let go of the soul of your project. A supervisor will help make sense of your (sometimes messy) ideas and you will figure out a good outcome together. But talk to them you must, young padawan. 

Chapter VII: Research and (actual) methodology (and some practical advice)

Time to talk about Bucharest again. Do you know what a mahala is? Bucharest used to be made of them. People still use the term today. 

mahala: word of turkish origin meaning simply neighbourhood. Only after the urbanisation following western models started in the 1830's the word acquired a negative connotation of a marginal space. These were spaces 'outside the citadel walls', where minorities and merchants usually dwelled. Most of these unplanned, often poor, organically developed neighbourhoods disappeared, either integrated into the city, or demolished for modernisation. 

Why am I telling you this? Because these are the basic urban cells from which the urban space developed. One can still see their traces today. Small merchant's homes, some only a little more than huts. They are heritage too. They are part of urban history as much as the neoclassical palaces I was crying about in part 1. And the thing is, I only found out about their significance during my research for my Jewish Cultural Heritage module.

Just because something isn't specifically 'thesis research', that doesn't mean it isn't useful thesis research.

Furthermore, thinking about these neglected heritage sites I realised the underlying concept of my thesis. Community involvement blah blah. Heritage reuse blah blah. But what was the underlying connection? And it dawned on me that it was authenticity. My idea of asking people what shape they want adaptive reuse projects to take in their ares was fuelled by the unconscious thought of a 'geist', an intanglible aspect of local heritage that I wanted to see manifested in heritage reuse. And I finally realised this by coming clean to my supervisor about my motivation. I used the word vibe a lot. But it is true that some places have a vibe, a je ne sais quoi that results from their history and heritage. The academic terms for that fall somewhere between intangible heritage and authenticity.

Just because some of your ideas don't sound academic, that doesn't mean that there isn't a useful concept underneath it all.

Chapter VIII: She reads, she writes, she reads more, she re-writes

So from this idea, my supervisor recommended I look into the concept of Historical Urban Landscape. I just checked out 3 books on the topic. Thing is, it may not be suitable. It may be the most useful thing ever. But I will never know unless I study it. So read. Read everything. Read it all. Even when you watch Netflix, keep an eye out for ideas. When you walk around the city. On the metro. All research is good research. And by the end, you will know what is useful for you. (More than that, you will sound hella smart.)

Pro tip: keep a notebook with you at all times and every time you a have thought about your thesis write it down. It might me amazing. You may never remember it again.

And with all this research, your ideas will naturally change. Your biases will be challenged, your assumptions unveiled. But everyone says to narrow down the topic. How does this technique help, you may ask. Well, the answer is counterintuitive, but bear with me. The more you read around the topic, you will find out a lot of things you don't need. Which is exactly the point. The more you know what is irrelevant, or belongs in a different research area, the easier it will be to define your are and hedge ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)effectively. 

That's all the cliche advice I could come up with, based on my meagre personal experience. Hope it helps! 

Cliche Appendix:

1. All bad thesis are bad in the same way, but all good thesis are good in their own unique way. (if Anna Karenina wrote a thesis)

2. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of research, it was the age of procrastination, it was an epoch of learning, it was an epoch of waking up late, it was the season of presentations, it was the season of essays, it was the spring in Vienna, it was the winter in Budapest, we had a BA before us, we had a prospectus before us, we were all getting an MA. (A tale of two years at CHSP)

3. In my younger and more vulnerable years, my supervisor gave me some advice that I've been turning around in my mind ever since: every time you feel like criticising anyone, remember peer reviewing. (The Great Prof. Dr. Gatsby).

4. As students fro CHSP awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, they found themselves transformed in their beds into monstrous bibliographies. (The Metamorphosis)

Inspired by the East: When you cannot escape the discourse of Orientalism!

Zeinab Abdelhamed

The British Museum's new exhibition 10 October 2019 –26 January 2020,Inspired By the East: How the Islamic World Influenced Western Art, attempts to present orientalist art as not only one where western artists traded in cliché, but also to show how portrayals of the East in the West were more than just racist pastiches. It attempts to present orientalist art as a sort of cultural exchange, rather than plunder, more of a long-term interaction between east and west that influenced not just paintings, but also ceramics, travel books and watercolor illustrations of Ottoman fashion. It also presents orientalism as an effort to understand other cultures at a time when there was not much travel, and perhaps an idealized longing for a life in an Islamic world that had not yet been untethered from the familiar by industrialization and secularization.

Inspired by the East - the first Orientalism show in the UK since 2008 - casts its net further than art, referencing ceramics, architecture, photography, even theatre. It closes with responses from four of the biggest contemporary female artists of the region to the Orientalist cliché, including Iranian-American Shirin Neshat and Morocco's Laila Essaydi, both of whom are well known for boldly confronting the stereotyped role of Muslim women in art. I am actually working on the same concept for my Anthropology paper, Orientalism and Islamic art and Architecture. I was very surprised to see such an exhibition. And I believe if Edward Said, the Palestinian writer and academic, were alive, he would have a heart attack! The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. The focus of the exhibition is, “how the Islamic world influenced Western art -- includes generous loans from their extensive collection of Islamic and Orientalist art”.

Orientalism as a concept

I assume that you are already familiar with the concept of “Orientalism,” but let me introduce you to the concept in a nutshell. Orientalism is a very important term that has been widely used after Edward Said’s book Orientalism, 1978. Many authors regard it as a major intellectual contribution and a very important book. The book is now being translated into twenty-six languages and is required reading at many universities and colleges. Said argued that patronizing Western depictions of the East, and especially Arab culture, were bound up with imperialism, creating stereotypes of “the other”. It is also worth mentioning that Said made Orientalism a dirty word, and the book is a major intellectual contribution rigorously posing the problems of the East/West problematique, in fact, of any form of polarity thinking which, in many cases, obscure the actual complexity of the picture.

Closed circuit: Exchange a western depiction of the East to the West 

Julia Tugwell, the exhibition's co-curator, explains: “It’s an East-West exchange and we want to talk about the influences of Islamic art, not just [on] Islamic art but from the Islamic world, Islamic culture, on the West.”..... to be continued!

Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g56M4dDOde4

• Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.

Theatre as Memory Media?

By Suzyika Nyimbili

Memory as an area of study is pretty new to me. Though I have thought about concepts of memory, I never really thought about it in terms of an actual field of study. When I saw that there would be a course on memory, I knew I had to sign up for it. The course, "Understanding Memory Media: Image, Material Culture, and Space" is what I am taking now. Its has helped me better understand this area of study and put into context some of the things I already know from back home. I must note that some of the classes have been on what would be strange for a person that is not familiar with this area of study. One of the classes we had was in a grave yard. Strange as it may sound to some people, it was an insightful class looking at commemoration and communication. Following that class, we got back to class the following week and discussed memory of the dead focusing on rituals, space, monuments and material culture. 

From our classes so far, we have discussed how memory works. We have discussed the concept of memory as involving collecting, storing and then retrieving. The interesting thing is that this does not just apply to the individual, that is, individual memory. A whole society, for instance, might have some sort of memory. . So, besides the individual memory, there are concepts of collective memory, social memory and cultural memory. These ideas and concepts have been discussed in depth by scholars such as  Maurice Halbwachs and Aby Warburg from the 1920s as per our discussions in class. 

In my study of memory, I have been thinking about my own work back home in Zambia. I have been wondering if at all my work as a playwright who is particularly interested in writing historical plays could fall under the concept of memory. Being an interdisciplinary area of study, that is, memory studies, history is one of those areas of study connected to memory studies. In our class on Memory as Communication, we considered the ideas of Peter Burke on history as social memory. If we somewhat agree, that history can be considered as social memory, could historical plays then fall under some  sort of memory? or is the play itself not memory but what is being portrayed in it can be memory? These are some of the questions that arise in my head as I consider theatre as memory. 

I got to lean that there are plays that are referred to as as memory plays. According to Wade Bradford, a memory play is "A play that focuses on the past as narrated by the main character. Usually, the play is a dramatic representation of the playwright's life—or at least loosely based upon the playwright's experiences". 

Cover of a book that caught my eye. 

Memory theatre could fall under individual memory. Could it then mean the institutionalized history or local history or any other form of history that can be recreated on stage could somewhat fall in a category of memory? And if so, could theatre, as performance, not the building, be a tool in memory? I am beginning to think it could though I clearly need to read more about the concept. My work in as a playwright boarders on work that is not in the mainstream curriculum or knowledge that is openly discussed and debated. One of the plays that I have done focus on the life of a woman call Lenshina. 

Hub Theatre Porduction of Lenshina: The Uprising 

Lenshina led a church of over 150000 members at its peak in prior to Zambia's independence. Before 1965, in Zambia, this was an extremely large number. All the other denominations, when combined  including those those led by missionaries didnt not  have such numbers. Before independence, Lenshina and her follows came into conflict with the government which led to conflict between her and her follows and the government and the United National Independence Party. Following the conflict, over 700 people were killed and thousands displaced and made to flee their homes. 

A scene from Lenshina's play showing some people who were shot down

For a long time, this was not discussed and its discussion even now brings a lot of suspicion. Its not covered in the school curriculum except at University. These are the types of stories I write about and bring on stage to provoke somewhat "undesired" discussion and memory. Does that in any way meet the standards of memory in the auspices of memory studies? Well, I am not sure but its something I am keep to understand and read about more and maybe, get to write about as a chapter in my thesis. You can read one review of the play here. 

There are others who have written and performed plays about how for instance the ethnic groups who now live in Zambia moved from present Democratic Republic of Congo and settled in Zambia. Others have written about traumatic experiences of the apartheid regime experiences in South Africa giving the written record a a more vivid portrayal. Does all this qualify to be referred to as memory media? maybe, or maybe not.  

Lamma Bada Yatathanna

Nasser Al-Hamdi

Have you listened to the Muwashshah of Lamma Bada Yatathanna? Maybe you have been told that this Muwashshah is a Turkish melody, and the word of AMAN - which you can find at the end of each half of the Muwashshah - is the proof of Turkish origins. However, the Muwashshah has a story behind as we will see on this post.

Abdul Rahim Almsloub or Lisan Al-Din Ibn Al-Khatib?

Muwashshah is a novel poetic art, Different other types of Arabic lyric poetry, it follows certain rules, and it uses original Arabic or foreign language in the performance. The Muwashshah in Andalusia called Nauba, which was first flourished during their ruling in Iberian Peninsula, and it is mixed with many different of indigenous musical genres. It is also different from Muwashshah of the eastern part of Arabia, but it has transferred this musical type to eastern part, especially to the Levant countries and Egypt by Turks and Andalusian composers, poets, and writers.

Some sources mention that the Muwashshah of Lamma Bada Yatathanna is attributed to Lisan Al-Din Ibn Al-khatib (1313-1374) who was a poet, writer, historian, philosopher, physician, and politician from Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus. In contrast, other sources suggest that Abdul Rahim Almsloub (1786 – 1895) from Egypt did not only composed the Muwashshah but was also the first one who wrote its words. Almaslob tried to revive the Arab musical heritage, which was dominated by Ottoman influences. As a result, he established Egyptian singing school, the process of revival was releasing the old mold of Arabic music, which was absent for a long time during the centuries of Ottoman rule. But, why the Turkish word “Aman” has been used in this Muwashshah?

Ya Lail or Aman?

In fact, the Modern Egyptian Song was founded by (Al-shikh Al-Masri), who was close to the Muhammad Ali dynasty, who were the rulers of Egypt at that time, and they were a family of Turkish Culture origins. Almaslob may have used the Turkish "Aman" instead of the Arabic "Ya Lail", which was used mainly in (The Mawwil) for public events and he used to hold concerts for them to satisfy the taste of the Turkish elite. In 1910, before the Arabs formally got the independence from the Ottoman empire, that step from Almaslob to use The Turkish word was not a drawback, especially, since it was only an extra word outside the original text. However, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish word has been replaced by the Arabic word as Arab Nationalism was rising up especially during the 1950s. In this sense, many Arab musicians weed out from the Turkish effects, and Lamma Bada Yatathanna was one testimony to these revisions.

These Attempts to get rid of the Turkish word have been failed, and many Arab musicians emphasize that the Muwashshah with the word "Aman" is the original. The word itself is not important to be Arabic or Turkish because it is an addition to the original text. However, if " lamma bada yattathana " had been written after ottoman collapsed, there would be no doubt that its author Abdel Rahim al-Masloub would have used the famous Arabic word "Ya Lail Ya Ain".

The first performance of the Muwashshah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=38Rs14fo95I

And this first Symphony for the Muwashshah by Abu Bakr Khairat, and he is considered to be one of the Arabs who discarded the Turkish word (Aman), and also, he was the first one who converted the Muwashshah to Symphony:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=345&v=fnYkqLIoFCA

The amazing Philharmonie 2016 performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4wF8wlp6FM

Kriti Mu!

ŞAHİN YALDIZ

He used to tell the stories about the house in Crete. White walls facing our lovely sea: Aegean. The orange trees were blossoming as if they were bearing the art. And the smell of the trees… He could not find the proper word to describe it and would begin singing the song beginning with his mother-tongue Greek:
κρήτη μου! (My Crete)

They suddenly got inside the house in Caterini. It was 1924 and we were forced to leave in three days. We could not get anything from our house except for some money. But they suddenly got inside the house. They killed my husband because he did not tell the whereabouts of the money. After his death we could not leave for five days more but another Greek family who were moved from Smyrna settled in our house. We lived together for these five days, we loved each other so much. I still remember her coming to my room with a smiling face and saying:

δώσε μου το τηγάνι! (Can you give me the pan?)

I was raised with the stories of the Great Population Exchange of 1924 between Greece and Turkey. Two million people were forced to leave their homelands. 700.000 Turks dwelled into Turkey, 1.300.000 moved to Greece. Some of the Turks could not speak Turkish and some of the Greeks could not speak Greek. They were in a ‘cultural purgatory’.  

I was raised with their stories told with a cute Greekish Turkish. My father’s grandfather was from Crete and my mother’s grandmother was from Thessaloniki. Full blood immigrant… As I was hearing the stories, I grew a great interest in Crete. What was there? Was it really that beautiful? And the girls? Yeap they always boast about the beauty of Cretan girls, were they beautiful? The best olive oil in the world? And the fish? People? The house. The house! The house? Was it still there waiting for its grandson?

I met with Nikos Kazancakis. The most known Cretan writer, the writer of Zorba. I got lost in the book when I woke up a morning and found my way when I finished at midnight. Zorba was calling me! I saw him. I talked with him and he was calling me. He was saying ‘I found a green jewel. Come.’. But how? How could I go there? I was poor! Because it was in Schengen Zone, that means lots of money even for the visa. Also, it was not easy to get there. That’s why my obeying to Zorba’s order just remained as a dream for years.

However, one day I saw a post in my university’s homepage. A professor felt from a high place, broke her spine and she would like to donate some money for a student who really wants to see a country. She was doing this to thank the God. Accidentally, I had the same accident, fell from 6^th floor and broke all the bones in my body.  I talked with her about our identicality and got the money! As soon as I got the money, I decided not to go for Crete. Because it is Crete of my dreams, what if this is spoiled when I see it in reality? This question seemed stupid and I got the tickets.

When I saw its shape from above, I was breathless. This was my Crete. I could not wait to land. As soon as I step on the ground, I just leant down and kissed the ground. I did not seek any hotel, any food or anything else. I just ran to the tomb of Kazancakis. It was on a high hill, but I climbed it. When I saw the tomb and the surrounding Heraklion, I began to cry hysterically while I was leaning to the tomb. “I was happy, I knew it. It is hard to feel the happiness while living it. We can only understand that happiness when we pass it and look back. However, now, in Crete, I’m living the happiness and I’m knowing that I’m happy.” I remembered that sentence of Kazancakis. I looked at the tomb and saw the writing that wiped out my panic attack disorder since I had this accident:

I HOPE FOR NOTHING

                                                         I FEAR FOR NOTHING
                                                               I AM FREE!

I could ask some fund for America, China, Japan or somewhere else which is ‘fancy’ and ‘expensive’. However, the island which is so near to Turkey has always been a dream for me.  I made it. I’d taken the book with me. I tore a page which I believe it was written for me and buried it near tomb. This journey changed my mind. By the way, I could not find ‘the house’ but I will.

κρήτη μου!

Now it is time to find out my maternal roots. However, this time the task is harder. I need a book that will change my life, first. Also, I need to be sure that I’ll be able to leave the village in Greece after finding it out, because I know even the location of the house which was dwelt by my ancestors for years. I am ready!

The reasons I will change the focus of my thesis topic or choose a new topic

The solutions to the research problem seem not to be realistic

My thesis topic is about the competition and dispute over national belonging of intangible cultural heritage among some UNESCO state parties, and UNESCO’s role in those disputes.

Two months ago, when I proposed this topic, I did not have a piece of detailed information about UNESCO. The only knowledge I came with was about the debates in Armenia and Azerbaijan over “national belonging” of intangible cultural elements such as food, crafts, music when they are inscribed on the UNESCO list. I identified a gap between UNESCO’s mission: on the one hand, it aims at building piece and mutual understanding, as well as acknowledgment of one another's cultural heritage among the member states, on the other hand, some inscriptions intensify competition over national belonging of cultural heritage creating split rather than mutual understanding.

Based on those concerns I was looking for possible solutions. One of them was to suggest UNESCO create a mechanism through which state parties could make joint nominations. However, when I presented the topic for the course about UNESCO, the professor told me that this organization has discussed and adopted the rules for multi-national nominations and inscriptions in the UNESCO list. This information was the first hint that I should study UNESCO better before finding out gaps in its structure.

            Then I began to reshape my research questions: I was thinking to myself “Ok if there is possible to make joint nominations, why countries in dispute (e.g. Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey) have not nominated any ICH as a shared element on the UNESCO list. The discussions with some professors and readings helped me to understand that even though the communities and authorities from both sides would know that they have shared culture, they would not negotiate and make joint nominations because of territorial disputes and lack of diplomatic relations between those countries.

           I was trying to understand UNESCO’s role in this issue. I believed that one of the possible ways for UNESCO to reduce tension and competition over heritage elements could be to encourage joint nominations particularly for countries having territorial disputes. However, after some literature review and consultations with professors, I realized that the local communities and their representative state parties should express willingness and initiate the procedure of joint nominations. UNESCO does not have any obligatory rules, it can just bring states together around some general values and conventions, however, when it comes to practice, UNESCO is not in charge of making the states in dispute collaborate on cultural heritage level. In other words, I realized that cultural heritage and its nominations by state parties have political nature: all in all it is an organization representing states with political authorities who make the final decision.

Lack of access to research data

            Another reason I may change the focus of my research topic is the lack of primary data. Because of no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, moreover due to still existing territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, I can hardly imagine myself doing interviews with the UNESCO representatives of those states.

Another issue is connected to interviewing the representatives of UNESCO. Before I got familiar with this organization, I thought it is possible to have interviews with experts who discuss state nominations. Alas, was disappointed by discovering that this kind of information is not open. UNESCO does not enclose the internal procedure of how the nominations are evaluated, rejected or confirmed. I hope I can have access to the Armenian governmental bodies and UNESCO committee representatives, however, I can not write a thesis with valid statements without the information from the other state parties.

            Thus my research topic is still open to changes until I formulate a feasible research.