490 post 2: Revise, revise, and revise again

Now that I have the first few pages written, I'm trying to revise them to a point that I'm happy with before I have to start adding to the other sections of my thesis. I'm hoping that getting one section that I'm satisfied with will let me use it as sort of an example for how I want to format the rest of the thesis.  Getting feedback from not only my advisors and Dr. Lent, but from my peer review group has definitely helped. I knew that my writing was far from where I want it to be at the end of the semester, but seeing that I'm not as behind as I thought I was when I first submitted the first draft was extremely reassuring. Seeing that the three of us in my peer review group have taken three different approaches to our writing style has also helped me feel more confident that not everyone's thesis will be set up the same and it's fine if we have different styles, formats, and/or contents.

Where to begin....

Let's start at the very beginning... a very good place to start....
Doe, a deer....
Wait, sorry, this isn't The Sound of Music!
If I could give anyone about to write their thesis any advice, it would be not to start at the beginning.
Sitting in front of a blank screen trying to come up with the perfect thesis statement and introduction is horrible! Instead, I ended up starting writing one of the subject areas that I knew I could write about and then the introduction started to write itself (more or less). I still don't have "the perfect thesis statement", but I feel a lot more confident about the main content of my writing.
I realize that I'm going to have a lot more than the 20-40 pages that our guidelines suggest, but that's okay. I'll get through it one page at a time.
Now that the writing process has started I feel a little more relaxed than I did before I started, when it was looming over my head. And now that I worked out the issues I had with getting logged back in to this blog, I may finally be able to get some sleep tonight.
Next step is to finally get the thesis advisory board meeting to actually happen..... but that's another story for another blog post.

Blog #6: Reigning it in

     Since I first conceptualized the topic for my thesis I've had to reduce the scope of my research tremendously. Initially, I had hoped to discuss the entire German community in Rochester, which currently consists of eight members of the Federation of German American Societies (FGAS); down from 13 member groups when I first became affiliated with the FGAS in 2002. This loss of groups due to members aging out and not being replaced by younger members is what initially attracted me to the issue to see what could be done to preserve membership in the various groups. After researching the issues faced by one FGAS member group, the Schuhplattler Verein Heidengold (SVH) it became clear that to try to discuss every member group would be too large of a task for my thesis, so I decided to focus solely on the Schuhplattler Verein Heidengold. That in itself has presented more than enough content to complete my thesis.

     I had also conceptualized going in to depth as to the tanzen (dances) and tracht (clothing) that the SVH present as being authentic to the Allgäu region of Germany that they represent. While I still plan on addressing these points, I feel that I will not necessarily need to go in to the detail that I had originally planned on to still get my point across about the means that the SVH go to in order to ensure that their representation is trustworthy.

     I believe that an examination of the entirety of the member groups of the Federation of German American Societies is important to ensure the continuance of German heritage in Rochester and will suggest in my thesis that it be researched for future work.

Blog Post 5: A Better Understanding

One of the things that I've discovered through all of my research on schuhplattler verein (German shoe slapping dance groups or "societies") is that the Schuhplattler Verein Heidengold really is a rare thing; not just in the Rochester area, but worldwide. There are only three groups in the United States that represent the Allgäu region of Germany that are a part of the 76 member vereine Gauverband Nordamerika, of which most organized groups are members. Part of the reasoning for this is the geography of Germany. The Allgäu region is mountainous, so travel to other towns and cities was not common for those in the region. The result of this is that not many were exposed to their tracht (clothing) or their region specific dances.


Although I knew they existed, another thing that I discovered is the website of the Allgäuer Gauverband der Gebirgstrachten und Heimatverine -hereafter referred to as the Allgäu Gauverband.(Website is available in English by right clicking on the body of the page and selecting Translate to English). The Wageggler Börwang-Haldenwang, one of the 45 member clubs of the Allgäu Guaverband visited the United States (Buffalo, NY to be precise) and attended a event put on by the Gauverband Nordamerika called the Gaufest back in 2017. Building relationships with the Wageggler as well as the Allgäu Gauverband can go a long way in helping to preserve authentic tracht, customs, traditions, as well as other aspects of the region.

Another thing that I learned while doing research is how to create the umlaut character while typing all of these German words!! ;)  The umlaut is used to indicate a different vowel quality. If you are not capable of creating the umlaut character, it is appropriate to represent the difference by using the vowel with the addition of "e". For example, ö would be written as oe. However, it is more accurate to use the umlaut whenever possible. Umlauts can be found with ä, ö, and ü in the German language. While this will not be addressed in my thesis, I feel that it is important as it lends authenticity to the writing.


I've also learned how the city of Munich promotes their world famous Oktoberfest. This also leads in to what I still need to know- how this knowledge can help Rochester German societies. Can they apply the principles that Munich uses to make their Oktoberfest not necessarily a world famous event, but an event that will perpetuate the German culture in Rochester?

Immenstadt in Allgau

Photo courtesy of Zaineb Chelly

 https://sites.google.com/site/zeinebchelly/cool-stuff

Blog post 4- Working research question

While many Rochesterians know that those of German ancestry make up a large portion of the Rochester population, many don't know that there is a German community that is actively trying to preserve and promote German culture and heritage. One reason for that is that many German immigrants chose to assimilate into the American culture for multiple reasons (some of which I will discuss in my thesis).

One major drawback of that assimilation (among other reasons like an aging population) is a decrease in membership in German cultural groups in Rochester. The result is the ceasing of multiple German cultural groups due to lack of membership and/or interest.

 After reading chapters 1-2 of A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Turabian, I know that a good research question will answer three questions: What is the topic? What do you want to find out about the topic? (Why is the topic important to your readers. Also know as the "so what?")  What issue will your research fix/improve? With these guidelines in mind, my working research question is: What is the German community (specifically the Schuhplattler Verein Heidengold- one of the German dance groups) in Rochester, NY doing to authentically preserve and promote German cultural heritage and what could they be doing differently in order to perpetuate the culture for future generations?

Members of the Schuhplattler Verein Heidengold after a performance in 2014 at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. Photo courtesy of Jim Smith.

Blog post 3- close readings

     For this week, I read two academic articles related to two different forms of German dancing.
"The Migration and Globalization of Schuhplattler Dance: A Sociological Analysis" written by Alexandra Kolb focuses on the "shoe slapping" form of dance known as the schuhplattler (as the title suggests), while the second article I read, "Folk Dances in the German Club" written by Herbert Schueler focuses on German folk dances. While both styles of dance are authentic to German culture, they are very different from each other. I'll discuss those differences in my thesis.


     What I've learned about close readings of both of these articles is that while they may be discussing similar topics, the writing style that each author uses is very different. Both of the journals that the articles were published in are peer reviewed journals, however, one article
is written with a more academic or scientific style (Kolb) while the other is much more casual (Schueler).

     I've also found that the research methods used in museum studies tends to lean more toward human interaction rather than the scientific trial and/or data set methods. Museum studies methods are more likely to be case studies, interviews, archival research, and interviews.

A high energy schuhplattler dance. (photo courtesy of http://www.dgemuetlichen.com/performance/)

A lower energy folk dance. (photo courtesy of https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-performers-bring-German-folk-dance-12401076.php)

Bibliography-

Kolb, Alexandra. "The Migration and Globalization of Schuhplattler Dance: A Sociological Analysis." Cultural Sociology 7, no. 1 (2012): 39-55. doi:10.1177/1749975512453658


Schueler, Herbert. "Folk Dances in the German Club." The German Quarterly 11, no. 4 (November 1938): 206-12. Accessed September 24, 2018. doi:10.2307/399999.