looking for references
Literature Review
My results of a first research session is all over the place since I can’t decide yet what to focus on at this point in my process of finding a topic for my bachelor thesis. I hope that maybe within the next step of formulating a research question, I can find a way to combine my interests in a more articulated and tangible manner.
I have several „strains“ or respectively lines of interests that showed up during my explorations.
In a way to cope with the, for me overwhelming, task of finding a specific topic, I looked in my nearer surroundings and „rediscovered“ my passion in the occupation of my Hungarian relatives. They make wine in a small family owned business in the eastern part of Hungary, where the once world renowned sweet wine „Aszu“ origins. They are one of the last producers that practice the traditional way of creating the formerly world famous wine.
In the time of the corona virus crisis I finally took my time and finished the written memoirs of my late grandfather. In a booklet about 150 pages his thoughts, anecdotes and wine making wisdoms were written down before his passing away in 2017. The book was not published because of several reasons, for one, he didn’t shy away from naming key players from the communist regime which were complicit in his incarceration. Nevertheless of such events he kept his passion and oeuvre of making the best possible wine. One of the main talking points in the book is the paradigm change (in the notion of deeper comprehension and value perception of the wine) in the region, which my grandfather analyzes with the changes of the several wine laws throughout the time and the influence which outside capital resp. investors brought with them in the privatization process. Which ultimately ended worse for him as a small scale producer. Since the latest changes his once traditional wines don’t adhere to the newest law anymore and he is banned from distribution.
I’m in close contact with my cousin which is currently finishing his PhD in the field of vino-agriculture. What interests me most here isn’t inherently the business side of things. For example tackling this issue from a typical and obvious interaction design perspective like „making a website“ or „service“ design perspective doesn’t appeal to me at this moment. But the interim conflicts retrieved from the politico- economical circumstances on the other hand indeed trigger me with fundamental questions like:
What does this story say about the systems world we live in?
What could a project regarding this theme look like?
I really dislike the recently more and more upcoming „horseshoe“ theory in popular political discourse, where one equates the far left and the far right. But I have to admit that I’m ignorant if it comes to political theory, nonetheless I tried coming up with sources for this particular struggle with different systems and paradigms.