Report on Fieldwork 9-15

Report on Fieldwork

I am doing quite well, having enjoyed a productive summer and a good start to the fall. What follows is a not very systematic series of reflections on my work this summer, both in Hungary and in Romania.

The main event of the summer was the intensive language course in Debrecen. It was a joy to finally study Hungarian with other students. After a year and a half of one-on-one tutorials, it was a pleasure to share with others the ups and downs of working with this fascinating and frustrating, compelling and confounding language as a second language. I learned a great deal, and forged several promising relationships with students and faculty.

In addition to the contacts I have made with faculty in the Nationalism Studies department at Central European University in Budapest and professors in the Anthropology department at Babes-Bolyai University here in Cluj-Napoca, I am reaching the point where I now have too many people to contact to discuss my work. This is a very good problem to have, and I am enjoying the “embarrassment of riches.” I am glad that I have time here to pursue these potential relationships further.

The joy of having an extended period of time in which to do fieldwork is that I feel like I don’t have to “push” conversations to be about my research topic. I can let relationships develop relatively naturally, letting conversations flow onto and off of topics that directly relevant to my research. I have noticed that people will bring up issues related to the Csíksomlyó pilgrimage without my having to do it. People want to talk about this pilgrimage. And I hope that this is a sign that I am onto something interesting. For instance, the other evening, I joined a prior acquaintance for dinner. On the way to the restaurant, we ran into several acquaintances of his, who then invited us to join them for a drink at an outdoor café. Two of them turned out to be sociologists, working on minority issues at a government think-tank here in Cluj.

At one point, during a lull in the conversation with this group of sociologists, one of them turned to me, unsolicited, and gave me his “unprofessional analysis” (his words) of the Csíksomlyó pilgrimage. I have to say, it was hardly “unprofessional.” He put into words what had been lingering at the background of my own attempts to describe the pilgrimage in my research proposals. As you know, I wrote two different proposals when applying for funding – one about the emergence of Csíksomlyó as a “popular” event, an example of mass culture and consumerism that can best be approached through the “heretical” Marxist analyses of mass culture generated by scholars working in the Frankfurt School for Social Research. The second proposal was about the development of Hungarian nationalism in Transylvania after the political changes of 1989 and relations between Hungarians in Transylvania and in Hungary proper. And both nationalism and consumerism cannot be separated out from the complex of religious devotional practices that take place at the event.

Unsolicited, this new acquaintance described to me his sense that Csíksomlyó is a complex event that interweaves exactly these three elements – the devotional, the touristic/consumerist, and the nationalist. His comment crystallized for me why it is that I was able to write these very different proposals while talking about the same event. What is more interesting to me is that I did not have to ask him about this – he offered this information to me on his own accord. Being able to be “patient” about my work is one of the best parts of being, finally and truly, “in the field.”

As for the details of my life here so far, I feel relatively settled into my apartment here in Cluj-Napoca. After being on the road in Hungary for most of the summer, it feels good to be unpacked, finally. Today was the first day of school here, and the streets were filled with parents taking their kids to class. I weaved in and around them to the offices of my local research supervisor, a church archivist named Molnár Lehel. We have met three times since my arrival into Cluj-Napoca. Lehel is well known amongst clergy and religious leaders throughout Transylvania, and his far-reaching network contacts will be immensely helpful. By temperament, Lehel is utterly apolitical. My impression is that he gets along well with everyone and stays out of all political and interpersonal pitfalls – a very useful personality trait for me. He is eager to help me however he can, and I am sure that by the time I am done here in Transylvania, I will owe him more than a lifetime’s worth of personal and professional debts. He is also simply a nice guy – he has invited me to have dinner with him and his wife Ennikő (a scholar of Finnish philology) next week, which I am very much looking forward to.

Before I left Boston, I wondered to myself several times whether it was smart to start out my work here in Cluj-Napoca, and then afterwards to move to a smaller city or town where I would truly “base” my study of the Csíksomlyó pilgrimage. I now feel like this was the right decision, to start out here. The connections I am making with faculty members will, no doubt, serve me well in the months (and perhaps years) to come.

Of course, life here is not without small difficulties. Now that the weather is turning slightly colder, I am beginning to realize, truly, that I will not be going back to Cambridge this fall. I have felt twinges of homesickness now and again, since I arrived in Romania. I have had doubts about whether my language skills will be sufficient enough to generate the kinds of conversations that I want to have with people. I wonder how I will keep myself entertained during the long and cold winter nights that lie ahead.

However, by and large, the summary of this report is “so far, so good.” I am excited about the future and, generally, feeling optimistic about what is to come. Please feel free to write with any questions, specific or general, that you may have. Thank you for your help through all of this, and take care!

- Marc

Arrived in Romania

I have arrived in Cluj/Kolozsvar just fine - no problems. I'll write more later. Heading down into the city center for a walk just now.

Heading to Romania

Sorry for the delay in posting. After 2 weeks of dedicated traveling - finding my way to 3 different countries and numerous different cities. After finding laundry services and showers more rarely than I have liked, I will be moving into my own apartment tomorrow. I am so excited about the prospect of my own place to live. Honestly, I have never lived truly alone in my life. Ever since I left home at 18 for college, I have always shared public areas with others - bathrooms, kitchens, etc. For the firs time, I will have all the rooms of my home to myself. Amazing. What am I going to do with all this freedom?!? :-)

I will be traveling on an overnight train to Cluj/Kolozsvar, through Arad. After not getting much sleep last night, this might be a challenge, to switch trains at 3 in the morning. But on the bright side, I am being met at the train station by my kind new landlord, Marc Pillich-Wright. He's going to take me to my new place and help me get settled in.

Then there is a Unitarian conference on Tuesday evening. I'm hoping to crash the party a little bit, and just show up to some of the events. There are a couple Unitarian folks who I knew from HDS who will be there, and I would love to hang out with them a little bit.

I was looking through my list of people who I know in Cluj/Kolozsvar this morning, and I had a momentary pang of fear, fear of being lonely in this place and without any institutional aid in meeting people. I am hoping that this worry doesn't pan out - worrying about ending up being isolated in this city without a way to really get integrated into a social network somehow. We'll see.

That's all for now.

Back in Budapest

Only a short time for a post: Arrived back in Budapest last night from Debrecen. Slept until noon this morning - Excellent! It feels like it's been forever since I actually got 8 hours of sleep.

Overall estimation of the experience - I had a great time!!!! Did I learn as much as I could have? Probably not. Did I succeed in making a lot of new friends and expanding my contacts in Hungary and Europe. Most definitely. Did I break out of my uber-bookworm Harvard shell and rediscover what it's like to dance like crazy three nights in a row until 2 in the morning? Yes, most definitely. Did I push myself past my own fears of attachment, did I remember what it's like to care, to be attentive to someone else's ups and downs? Yes, most definitely. A great experience.

In Budapest for a couple days, then on to Croatia for a wedding. From there it's to the beach for a week, to Slovenia to visit a new Debrecen friend, and then to Romania.

Brake a Train

Woke up this morning singing this song, inexplicably.

Here's the chorus:

Brake a Train (Cliff Eberhardt)

And my heart feels just as caloused
As some old breakman's hands
Been on the job for years
He still don't understand
Why the towns fade away like lovers
His life has let him down
You can brake a train you can break a heart
But you never learn to like the sound



The lyrics are perfect, I think. It is true: I have never learned to like the sound.

Last week in Debrecen

I'm sitting down to write a few lines before I head to sleep, after the regular dance party at the Tent tonight in Debrecen. I'm tired. I haven't slept well for 2 days. I'm still figuring out where I'm going to stay in Budapest after things end here. I've got a test on Thursday. But these things should come together. I'm excited about the Croatia trip at the end of the month. That should be fun. Otherwise, all is good here!

Ady Endre