The streets of Chiang Mai sang with a choir of sounds, of chattering tourists, honking Rod Daengs, and the calling of street vendors. But at the heart of it all, were the sounds of passionate creatives who artfully strummed Suengs and acoustic guitars, who sang traditional folk songs and classic rock and roll. I remember walking down the Sunday Walking Street Market on our very first day in the city, observing Traditional Lanna Music performers play alongside food stalls, and watching a crowd gather around a rhythm and blues band playing in a storefront. The people of Chiang Mai, I learnt throughout the course of the trip, breathed in music.

I’ve always been interested in musical cultures. So when my TOPS group decided to center our research around culture and heritage, I jumped at the opportunity to explore Chiang Mai’s music scene. We interviewed numerous people about local music, from students, to random shop owners, to dancers and musicians, to instrument vendors, and university professors. We watched performances, listening to musicians perform Traditional Lanna music while enjoying a traditional Khantoke dinner, watching bands rock out with electric guitars at ground shaking volumes and singing jazz songs so deep its soul reverberated through the walls.

Chiang Mai, we learnt, was brimming with energy. Performances stretched well into the night and venues were packed with foreigners and locals, with the young and the old alike. Musicians played Traditional Lanna songs with practice and pride, learnt from their grandfathers who passed down the tradition preserved by the generations before them, while challenging the limits of the genre at the same time, blending traditional and modern elements to create something new. It was inspiring to be surrounded by people so passionate about what they do. Perhaps one of the most inspiring performances we experienced was one performed by the students of Yupparaj Wittayalai School. I still remember sitting in that hall, an array of instruments spread across its length, feeling chills crawl up my skin as the orchestra swelled, watching the students dance as if they were feeling every emotion that rolled off the music. I’ve never seen music mean so much to people before.

This trip became so much more than a mere fieldwork trip then, more than just collecting data and conducting interviews to substantiate our research. We talked to people and sat down for entire durations of performances for a genuine love and curiosity for the music. It felt like we made real connections, shared experiences, and truly learned from others. That, to me, is what ethnographic research is ultimately about. Human connections. I would not have learned nearly as much if not for the conversations I’ve had with people and the experiences I sought out.

As our trip to Chiang Mai came to an end, I left with an aching desire to pick up the Seung and to learn more about the world.

Submission by:

Tay Hye Der, Heather, Year 1, PPGA

It is a curious thing to have your research be recognized beyond the classroom, and this is especially true when the course paper had been written on as unorthodox a topic as hair and its representations in art. A peculiar introduction, certainly, and yet strangely apt in encapsulating the humble beginnings of what would culminate in a surreal and exhilarating experience in Dublin, Ireland.

Shantini, Sherry, Jian Kai, Alexis and I at Phoenix Park.

It was an honor to have been invited to attend the 2022 Global Undergraduate Awards Summit as the Regional Winner in the Art History & Theory category. The three-day conference summit has proven fruitful, and I am immensely grateful to have been part of a platform that brought together a group of like-minded students, each so well-versed and devoted to their disciplines. Their shared love for academia resonated with my own in ways that I had never encountered before. As a double major in English Literature & Art History, and part of the University Scholars Programme (USP) that unites students of various faculties, interdisciplinarity lays at the heart of my work and life, though in practice they have rarely traversed the boundaries of the humanities. Nonetheless, the fluid conversations held with students across all fields of study at both the summit and in my time in USP has continually affirmed my belief that no discipline is truly self-contained.

Throughout my time in NTU, I have been exposed to new perspectives that have inspired me to seek out novel and niche topics to explore, and I constantly find my knowledge carrying across modules. It is hence paradoxically both serendipitous and predictable that the art history paper I submitted to the Undergraduate Awards was inspired by and founded upon a prior research paper undertaken in SP0048 “Global Histories Through Masterpieces”. That module holds a special place in my heart, partly because Professor Walsh had allowed us to write about anything that piqued our interest, but mostly because he had told us that “if you keep writing, I will keep reading”. This was a statement I was later told I had taken “a little too literally”, and which I shall always remember fondly as a testament to my professors’ genuine desire to nurture and take interest in their students’ passions.

Much like the humanities curriculum, NTU-USP emphasises elective-based modules, allowing for creative freedom while providing a critical foundation through core modules in the first and second years. It is only now, in my final year of study, that I am fully able to appreciate the tolerance and open-mindedness with which my professors have regarded my wild ideas and proposals. More so than pushing me out of my comfort zone, they have provided me a conducive and safe environment to expand the boundaries of my knowledge at my own pace to my own whim and design, and for this I am eternally indebted.

NTU-USP has been extremely supportive in providing extensive funding to attend the conference, and it heartens me to know that the program and school truly care about the development of its students, recognizing the unique value of attending an in-person conference summit.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Global Undergraduate Awards, the School of Humanities, URECA, USP, and all the professors who have nurtured me in my time as an undergraduate student. Lastly, I wish to thank Professor Michael Walsh, for whose module the winning paper had been formulated, and who has been an immense source of inspiration and influence on my research work.

The NTU award recipients with Jim Barry, Chairman of the Global Undergraduate Awards.

Submission by:

Ng Xin Le, Year 3, ELAH