Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Institute of Ethnography and Folklore
- Code
- BBN-NEP-603.13
- Title
- Optional workshop of the Department of Ethnology: The World of Garages. Garages in the Second Half of the 20th Century. Research Seminar.
- Usual semester
- Spring
- ECTS
- 3
- Language
- hu
- Learning outcomes
- The World of Garages. Garages in the Second Half of the 20th Century. Research Seminar. BBN-NEP-603.13 Instructors: Gábor Kőszegi – Tamás Móser Short description of the course In the second half of the 20th century, the streetscape of villages and cities underwent major changes. These changes in the streetscape were first related to reconstruction and later to modernization. One important indicator of modernization and changes in lifestyle is the appearance of garages, as they themselves indicate a change in the transport culture: animal-drawn vehicles were gradually replaced by privately owned motorized vehicles: motorcycles and passenger cars. These played an important role in households as status symbols, so either new garages were built to protect them, or – mostly in villages – outbuildings (stables, barns) that had lost their function were given a new function. These newly formed spaces replaced the firewood sheds or other spaces owned and used by men as men's spaces. Since the operational reliability of cars and motorbikes was not always adequate, these garages became spaces for assembly and tinkering in addition to spraying and slaughtering pigs. From the 1970s and 1980s, a large-scale accumulation of tools and raw materials began in these men's spaces. This accumulation is fundamentally related to the workplace and the tools and raw materials that can be brought from there through social capital exchanges, in any case less legally, but mostly for free – at least without the movement of money. Which "will still be good for something" or not, and stands in piles until the end of time. At least today these object universes are still available, although we are already in the 24th hour again. The aim of the research seminar is to introduce students to this distinctive world of urban terrain, and for students to enrich their profession with valuable field experience. Interviews with field allies will help document the development and use of the world of garages. The Museum of Ethnography will prepare a photo essay about the excavated garages and include them in the 2026 exhibition entitled Buhera.
- Course content
- Topics 1. Transformation of urban spaces. Garages in the fabric of the city. 2. Transformation of rural spaces. Garages in modernizing villages. 3. Renewing spaces of men's communities. 4. Smoking as a social valve. 5. Life history and garage: the material world of garages. 6. Objects, photos and exhibition.
- Assessment method
- Course completion requirements: finding a garage/workshop built in the period between 1950 and 1990; conducting an interview (30-60 minutes, typed); producing photo documentation
- Bibliography
- Bali, János (2012) A lakóház és a lakóudvar változása Hetés falvaiban. In: Marx, Mária (szerk.) A kódisállástól a kockaházig és tovább... Zalaegerszeg, Zala Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága. 35-78. Bali, János (2008) The clicker: Home made rural engine-driven vehicle and process machine in Hungary in the second half of the 20th century In: Korkiakangas, Pirjo; Lappi, Tiina-Riitta; Niskanen, Heli (szerk.) Touching Things: Ethnological Aspects of Modern Material Culture Helsinki, Finnish Literature Society. 217-225. Kőszegi, Gábor (2024) Gép és nép: Gépek és társadalmi változások vidéken TABULA 25 115-119.