Seminář obecných a komparativních dějin

   On Friday 2nd of December 2016, the TEMA Masters programme and the CHIPPC (Cultural Heritage – Identification – Public Places – City) research group held a workshop where TEMA and PhD students of the Institute of World History presented their individual research pieces. This interdisciplinary workshop had two thematic blocks; the first section contained three researchers working with the concept of cultural heritage as a social process, whilst the second contained five presentations from the field of the History of Architecture and Urbanism.
   There were also two overlapping presentations. At the end of the morning session, Architect Eva Špačková PhD (Technical University in Ostrava), detailed the revitalization projects of Hlučín’s historical centre as made by her students. Afterwards, Jan Krajíček, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Arts (Charles University Prague), opened the afternoon session by giving an explanation of the development of the definition of cultural heritage in contrast with its constructivist conception as a social process. This was followed by Tereza Horačková’s (TEMA alumna, doctoral student at EHESS and Faculty of Arts) research on the integration of the third and fourth generations of Vietnamese immigrants in Paris and in Prague, and Oldříška Prokopová’s (TEMA alumna and doctoral student at the FA) research on the role of Tuscany’s popular culture in the making of the modern Italian nation.
   The themes in the Architecture and Urbanism sessions were: Budapest’s Mátyásföld suburban neighbourhood as an anticipation of Ebenezer Howard’s notion of garden city (Gyöngy Molnár – TEMA Student), the urbanism performed by the Bata Shoe Company in Brazil (Davi Costa da Silva – TEMA Student), projects of new capital cities in the cases of Astana, Ottawa and Brasília (Nari Shelekpayev, TEMA alumni and PhD candidate at Université de Montréal), and the social impact of gated communities in Istanbul (Yi?itcan Uçar – TEMA Student).
   These talks concluded with a lively debate lasting well into the late afternoon, from which each student enjoyed immediate and detailed feedback that they can take forward into their continuing works.