Research

NEOAVANTGARDE MEDIA USE – COMMUNICATIONAL UNDERSTANDING (2002-2010)

 

The research investigated the media used by the new avantgarde art (body art, action art, experimental film, oral “literature”, punk and other genres of pop music) applying communicational aspects.

THE CASTLE, THE VILLAGE, AND THE FORREST – IMAGES OF LOCALITY IN BELSŐ SOMOGY (2001-2003)

 

The students of our department began their researches in 2001 in Belső-Somogy. They aimed at exploring the relationship between different localities (geographical-social space-units) and discovering how the local communities build up these localities. “Castle, village, and forest – three different geographical sites but still, they refer to each other. These locations are subordinated by the socially settled rules of space and time, of power and defenselessness. These locations are embraced and linked together by denser or sparser ‘communication bundles’. These locations have an other way of existence, too: in people’s desires, fantasies, and imaginations”.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEO – AVANTGARDE SUBCULTURES AND SUBCULTURES (2002-2004)

 

The research has investigated the social background of the Hungarian neoavantgarde culture, concentrating basically on the 70s and the 80s. the research applied the approaches of cultural studies in its understanding of what subculture is.

DISCOURSES ABOUT THE CIVIL SOCIETY (2003-2005)

 

The research investigates intellectual discourse about the civil society theory and practice that evolved around the Hungarian change of regime and lasts to date. Within the frames of this project, we analyzed professional and scientific studies, handbooks, monographs, written materials published in the past twenty years, and we used the method of discourse analysis. The most important result of this research is that now we can show that discourses about civil society paid a very important role in the symbolic thematization of the questions of the change of regime, and in its social processing. The research was supported by the scholarship of The Prime Minister’s Office and of the Foundation for the Higher Education and Research.

CHANGING REGIONAL IDENTITY – TRANSFORMING LOCAL SOCIETY (2004-2006)

 

The research was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) and was set off in 2004. The students and the teachers of our department carried out this research in Belső-Somogy villages. This area is important because following the Hungarian change of regime, western migrants have been moving in. The research was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) between 2004-2007.

PROSPECTS OF SMALL VILLAGES AND THEIR INHABITANTS (2004-2007)

 

This research was carried out by NKFP, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Center For Regional Studies and University of Pécs between 2005-2007. The overall aim of the research was to promote small village areas, as well as to stop social erosion and exclusion with the help of basic and applied research methods and of the methods of experimental development.

URBAN CULTURE AND FESTIVALS: IDENTITY, HAPPENING, ADVENTURE (2004-2008)

 

There stand three festivals in the focal point of this research: Festival of Pécs (Pécsi Ünnepi Játékok, 1928-33), Hungarian Film Festival (Magyar Jétékfilmszemle 1965 – 1982), National Theatre Festival, Pécs. Festivals as specific public formations have numerous advantageous characteristics: they mean demonstrative and attractive goals for the citizens in the drab weekday routine pervaded by the lack of effectiveness of urban policies, they are able to urge decision making, moreover – in case of success – our city can gain more renown/ they can build the city’s renown. In the last 10-15 years, in Hungary, studying how public sphere operates (how its organizations, actors and spaces work) has become a very important field in social scientific communication studies. In other words, publicity is one of the basic concepts in describing the phenomena of social communications.

CIVIL LIFE PATHS - ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES (2005-2007)

 

The first unit of this research series was carried out within the frames of the study “For the Equal Opportunities of Small Villages and their Inhabitants”. In 2005, there were fifteen in-depth narrative interviews/inquiries conducted among the civil and non-profit leaders of the Zala area. Using the results of these narrative interviews, Rita Glózer – the research head –studied how the inhabitants can get on and fulfill themselves by the establishment of non-governmental organizations in this less-favored area.

MAGASHÁZ: SOCIAL HISTORY OF A RESIDENTIAL UNIT (2005-2006)

 

Our students revealed the everyday life of the Magasház (‘Tall House’) with the help of the available literature, document analysis and interviews. Magasház (tall house) is a 84 metre tall high-rise building with 25 floors in Pécs, Hungary. Magasház was built in 1976 as a residential building and is uninhabited today. According to the list of tallest buildings and structures in Hungary, it is the tallest out-of-use building in Central Europe.


STRUCTURE OF THE HUNGARIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC FIELD (2006-2007)

 

Photo in the “Photo-Era” – Contemporary Approaches and Correspondences of Photographic Studies/ to Photography in Hungary – Workshop Organized by the Communications and Media Department of the University of Pécs
Date: 1-2 December 2006.
Place: Művészetek Háza, Pécs (Széchenyi square 7-8.)