Thesis Post #6: Parting is Such Sweet "Sorrow"

I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm relieved to be done (or almost done). I'm a creature of fear, so now I have one less thing to be scared of. XD I'm still editing the thesis in preparation to submit the final document. It's been nerve-wracking and stressful, but I learned valuable things about my topic and scholarly writing. Thanks to my peers for the feedback you gave in class. I'm sure your theses are great, and I'm looking forward to reading them. :) Good luck in this final stretch!

Thesis Post #5: Bitter Nectar

I was combining my lit review and thesis pages today, and I thought, "This is long." But then, I remembered that there were people last year who had over one hundred pages. :/ I suppose I should consider myself fortunate. Maybe people will be more likely to read it.

I hope people enjoy it. It's not the most innovative thesis, but at least, it's interesting to learn about how cultural institutions in another country work.

Stay safe, everyone. Here's a poem to cheer you up:

Thesis Post #4: All This

Well...

I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page. This is a very confusing time for everyone. It's hard to get into the swing of things with all the craziness going on, but I've been trying to do coursework throughout.

A couple weeks ago, I sent some emails to request contact information for the BCM, but there's been no response so far. If they don't get back to me by the time the thesis is due, at least I have some pictures of the exhibits from the Internet. I'm thinking about changing my thesis outline to narrow the scope, since I've gotten advice from a few professors about limiting how much I am trying to cover. It makes sense.

Hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying the remaining days of the extended break.

Thesis Post #3: Oceans of Longing

Even though I've already passed the minimum page count for the thesis when I add together the body pages and the lit review, I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere. There are still subjects that I want to discuss that I have not gotten to yet in my paper. There are also subjects that I want to expand on. When I look at my content outline, I have only been writing for the case study section, which is at the end. My next writing goal is to zoom out to the national scale. I'm looking forward to talking about how Zimbabwean museums use technology.

Thesis Post #2: We Live in a Society

Right now, I want to start focusing on ideas related to sociology and power dynamics. I received a lot of feedback from my advisors and Dr. Lent to look into the relationship that the Tonga people have with the dominant ethnic groups of Zimbabwe, so my next step is to do that. One source that my secondary advisor recommended explains what happens when an ethnic group has to commoditize its culture for economic gain. It is possible that the BaTonga Community Museum - a state-sanctioned museum - may be contributing to generalizations about the Tonga people or making local artisans only show off traditional arts rather than contemporary ideas. I don't know what the case is yet, but I'll see as I do more research.

Thesis Post #1: Back Into the Fold

So, I've started to write the thesis, just like everyone else. I'm not as prolific as some other people, but we're getting there, I suppose. I've decided to start with the section on the history and culture of the Tonga people, since that is what I am most comfortable with. I will add citations after I finish writing, because if I try to cite as I write, it will slow me down so much that I barely accomplish anything.

I've looked into how to make contact with the BaTonga Community Museum (BCM). There's no way that I can find to make direct contact with them, but I have the name of the curator and site manager, Joshua Chikozho. Unfortunately, I cannot find an email or phone number for him. I did find his Facebook page, however. I felt that might be too informal of a way to reach out. Alternately, I tried to find the email of the author of a monograph about the BCM, Dr. Munyaradzi Mawere. He teaches at Great Zimbabwe University, so I looked for his faculty email on the website. Again, nothing. So, I will attempt to contact the BCM through the national organization, by emailing Dr. Mawere's department for his email, or by messaging Mr. Chikozho on Facebook.

Post #7: The Cold Numbing the Fingers that Type a Thesis

My goal over winter break is to read the sources recommended to me by my secondary advisor, Professor Casey from the Anthropology department. She provided me with a lot of sociological/anthropological sources, some of which couldn't make it into my lit review, but I will start reading them over the break. I will still be volunteering at the Air and Space Museum from Wednesdays through Saturdays, so that leaves the rest of the week to do reading. I plan to count all the articles, and then budget how many to finish each week. I'll be taking notes as I go, so hopefully, by the time Spring semester starts, I'll have a rough outline of talking points for my thesis. This will also help me compile a list of focused questions for my advisors and Dr. Lent.

Post #6: The Evolution of a Project, The Re-birth of a Child

When I first decided on this project idea, I was thinking about identifying European influences in African and Asian museums because I thought it would be interesting to see just how much European museum practices have become the standard around the world. I wanted to add some sort of practical element to it, which I why I added the part about the African and Asian museums decolonizing their practices and incorporating their indigenous cultures. I knew I had to pick a case study institution in order to focus the discussion around specific museum practices. I eventually decided on Zimbabwe as the location for my case study because their museum community is working on decolonization and promotion of indigenous cultures. I picked the BaTonga Community Museum as the case study institution because it embodied the ideals of the Zimbabwean museum decolonization movement. Even though I had my case study and nation picked out, my research question still included the wide umbrella of "African and Asian museums." I realized that it was way too broad, so now, I am only focusing on Zimbabwe.

I will probably still talk about general decolonization applications, but that will likely only happen if I compare Zimbabwean museums to museums in other countries, discuss global museum trends, or propose general courses of action in the conclusion of the thesis. As my my project progresses, I can see it evolving to include more anthropological perspectives, since I would like to dig into why culturally informed museum practices are important, and how the public can be affected by them. Depending on what I learn about various Zimbabwean museums, I may change my case study to a different museum, but as of right now, I am working with my current pick.