Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Organization

BTK Institute of Ethnography and Folklore

Code

BMA-NEPD17-304

Title

Archives and sources 2.

Usual semester

Spring

Published semester

2025/26/2

ECTS

5

Language

hu

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to develop students’ skills, knowledge, and awareness in source criticism, to strengthen their critical thinking, and to practice the micro-level components of presentation and academic writing skills. The seminar places emphasis on practicing independent forms of knowledge processing in as diverse a range of formats as possible, supported by instructor guidance and collaborative work.

Course content

This course follows the fourfold division of source knowledge, source criticism, source publishing and source-oriented theory(s) of science, and is a continuation of Source Knowledge 1. The seminar will review the main trends in postmodern and contemporary folkloristics, focusing on the concept of text, different narratives, text organization procedures, moving away from the theoretical "arrangement" of folkloric texts, through the less exploited sources and new social media as research fields, to the ethnographer's meta-discursive procedures.

Assessment method

Course Structure Over the course of the semester, the assigned topics are addressed through a reading seminar format and short research tasks. For each class session, students prepare in advance at home by completing a previously agreed assignment, working individually, in pairs, or in groups. For every class, students are required to complete at least one of the following in advance: read an assigned text, listen to an academic podcast, or work through a pre-defined question. Sessions indicated in the course schedule take the form of institutional visits. Attendance at these visits is mandatory, and they are accompanied by preparatory readings as well as follow-up practical assignments designed to support post-visit reflection and analysis. The course also includes creative writing exercises aimed at the parallel development of a source-critical perspective and writing skills. Nature of Assignments and Assessment General Assessment Criteria A maximum of three absences is permitted. Active participation in class and thorough preparation for every session are required. A critical approach is essential. In addition to the criteria listed above, assessment is based on the following portfolio components: A written book review of a foreign-language book published within the past year that is relevant to the course content (minimum length: 3 pages), demonstrating a critical perspective and a solid command of the relevant secondary literature. Two individual presentations delivered during the semester, based on one of the seminar readings; each presentation must be accompanied by a Prezi or PowerPoint presentation, which must be uploaded to the Canvas platform. Active participation in tasks labeled, contributing to and supporting the process of cooperative learning.

Bibliography

Session 1: Opening Secret Service Archives — Topics and Methodological Considerations Guiding questions: What source value do secret police files have for studying the transformations of private life and the private sphere in twentieth-century societies? What methodological approaches can researchers apply when analyzing secret police documents in order to avoid (or critically manage) the biases inherent in these sources? Required readings: HESZ Ágnes: ”Légy szíves ezt a levelet elégetni, ha elolvastátok”: vernakuláris vallás a titkosrendőrségi aktákban. Ethnographia. 2021. 45–66. HESZ, Ágnes: Secret Police Informer Files as Sources for the Study of Vernacular Religion under Communism. In: KAPALÓ, James – POVEDÁK, Kinga (eds.): The Secret Police and the Religious Underground in Communist and Post-Communist Eastern Europe, 2022. VERDERY, Katherine: Secrets and Truths: Ethnography in the Archive of Romania’s Secret Police. Budapest: CEU Press, 2014. Podcast: KAPALÓ, James: Minority Religion in the Secret Police Archives. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/minority-religions-in-the-secretpolice-archives/ (a transcript is also available on the website)   Sessions 2–3: Publicity, Openness, and Social Processing of Secret Police Archival Material. Exhibition, Theatre Required readings: GARDE, Ulriche (2016): The Stasi Files on Center Stage: Life Writing, Witnessing, and Memory in Recent Performance. In: Glajar, Valentina (ed.): Secret Police Files from the Eastern Bloc: Between Surveillance and Life Writing, NED, 178–200. Verdery, Katherine: My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File. 2018. Recommended reading: anBlokk. Megfigyelési ügyek (2009/3). Supplementary and creative materials for further orientation: Német egység a Balatonnál http://www.ndk.hu/zs/emlekez/hetek_100730.pdf See also: https://magyar.film.hu/filmhu/magazin/forgacs-peter-uj-filmje-installaciokent-cottbusban-forgacs-peter-nemet-egyseg-a-balatonnal-hamos-gusztav https://balatonfured.hu/2010/09/20/nemet-egyseg-a-balatonnal/ Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c5OjSsMowo http://www.la-croix.com/France/Dans-archives-secretes-Seconde-Guerremondiale-2016-03-16-1200747151 Recommended: ÁBTL podcast series (YouTube channel) Films: The Lives of Others (A mások élete) 1968 – A Love Reconstructed (based on Miklós Tóth’s documentary novel Lovag és Fitos, 2011)   Session 4-5: Visit to ÁBTL (Guided Tour). Sources and Source-Critical Considerations Session 6: Visit to the Blinken OSA Archive: insight into archival holdings. Processing and interactive tasks; questions of social sensitization. Session 7: Autoethnography as Writing Technique and Method. Experimenting with the “Ethno-Novel” Readings: AUGÉ, Marc (2013): Séta a Luxemburg-kerten át: Párizs, 1984. július 20.: etnoregény: egy nap története Franciaországban a szokások, az elmélet és a boldogság szemszögéből vizsgálva. (Trans. and notes by Ágoston Fáber). Budapest: Műcsarnok. AUGÉ, Marc (2013): Egy etnológus a metróban. Budapest: Műcsarnok. Additional reading: Wall, Sarah: Easier Said than Done: Writing an Autoethnography https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265874537_Easier_Said_than_Done_Writing_an_Autoethnography ​​ Overview of Marc Augé’s life, research, and theoretical periods; remembering the scholar who passed away two years ago (based on mixed sources). Session 8: Field Diary, Fieldwork, Contemporary Dilemmas In the past two decades, anthropologists have had to rethink the nature of ethnographic research, the meaning of fieldwork, and the roles of both the community under study and ethnographers. Although the cultural, social, and political dimensions of fieldwork have been widely debated and applied, the training of ethnographers still often follows traditional patterns. Core readings: Mészáros Csaba: Participant Observation, Inclusion, and Language Skills: On the Authenticity of Anthropological Fieldwork. DOI: 10.54742/tabula.2020.1-2.05 Nagy Károly Zsolt: A kulturális antropológiai terepmunka módszertana. Tabula, 2019. Wilhelm Gábor: Terepmunka, módszertan és antropológiai muzelógia. Tabula, 2019. Session 10: Postmodern and Postcolonial Critiques of Folkloristics. Social Impact and Responsibility. Dorothy Noyes’s “Humble Theory” Reading: Noyes, Dorothy: Humble Theory. Folklore’s Grasp on Social Life, 2016. “Idea Collection with Monochrome Completion” task: Take notes on the theoretical part of the book and choose one practical chapter. Based on these, write a detailed outline with your own comments on one of the following questions. This will serve as the basis for in-class debate; aim to capture as many aspects as possible. Examining practical applications of “humble theory” in research on different forms of folklore. Examining folklore’s dual role in modernity: how does it appear simultaneously as an “archaic remnant” and as a critique of modernity? How are folklore forms used by marginalized communities to articulate identity and social position? Session 11: The Reflexive Turn. Self-Researching and Self-Interpreting Communities; Participation (Shared authority; research as a moral practice; readability and audience pluralism) Readings: Lassiter, Luke Eric (2005): The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography. Lajos Veronika: Részvétel és együttműködés. Fogalmak, dilemmák és értelmezések. https://replika.hu/system/files/archivum/replika_100-03_lajos_1.pdf Session 12: The Image as a Source. Popular Graphics in Historical Perspective. Volkskundliche Bilderkunde Readings: Bringéus, Nils-Arvid (1982): Volkstümliche Bilderkunde. München: Callwey Verlag. Zika, Charles (2007): The Appearance of Witchcraft: Print and Visual Culture in Sixteenth-Century Europe. Routledge. Rooth, Anna Birgitta (1992): Exploring the Garden of Delights. Essays in Bosch’s Paintings and the Medieval Mental Culture. FFC – Folklore Fellows’ Communications, No. 251. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. Szemerkényi Ágnes (ed.) (2007): Folklór és vizuális kultúra. Budapest: MTA Néprajzi Kutatóintézet. Session 13: The Photograph as a Source. Visit to the Photo Archive of the Museum of Ethnography (Guided tour: Photo collection; viewing the glass negative exhibition.) Reading: KUNT Ernő (1995): Fotóantropológia. Fényképezés és kultúrakutatás. Miskolc–Budapest: KVAT – Budapest Galéria. Assignment: Write an exhibition review of the Museum of Ethnography’s glass negative exhibition titled Vágatlanul. Törékeny fényképek valósága (“Uncut. The Reality of Fragile Photographs”). The exhibition opens on 12 February 2026. Current call: https://neprajz.hu/hirek/2026/meselj-a-szemelyes--es-csaladi-fotoarchivumodrol-a-neprajzi-muzeum-dokumentumfilmjeben.html Session 14: Ethnographic Film, Anthropological Film. Family Filmmaking Readings: Blos-Jáni Melinda (2015): A családi filmezés genealógiája. Erdélyi amatőr médiagyakorlatok a fotózástól az új mozgóképfajtákig. [Emberek és kontextusok 15.] Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum Egyesület. Tari János (2012): A néprajzi és az antropológiai filmkészítés. Történeti, elméleti és gyakorlati példák. Budapest: Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem – L’Harmattan.   Session 15: Wrap-up Theoretical and practical outcomes of the seminar. Uploading and assessment of semester work.

Recommended bibliography

Marcus, George E.: Notes toward an ethnographic memoir of supervising graduate research through anthropology’s decades of transformation. In: James D. Faubion and George E. Marcus (eds.): Fieldwork Is Not What It Used to Be: Learning Anthropology's Method in a Time of Transition, pp. 1–34. Uhrin, Michal. 2022. “Field Diaries, Emotions, Subjectivity, and Their Role in Anthropological Research.” Ethnologica Slovaca et Slavica 43: 87–101.

Programmes of the course