Thank you all for your assistance. i just wanted to know if there was 
existing research out there that might help me. I guess i am lucky to have 
looked into something new! I have been looking at museum websites for sample 
menus and i will visit some museum cafes in new york. Thank you once again.

>From: Jay Heuman <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Thesis Assistance
>Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:52:46 -0700
>
>Indigo,
>
>I'll grant Adrienne and Tim (and myself) credit for not dismissing the 
>question . . . for knowing enough to be encouraging of that line of 
>inquiry.
>
>The application of the Post-Colonial concept of "Otherness" to museum gift 
>shop merchandising and café food/beverage has not likely occurred to other 
>thinkers.  (After all, three museum professionals wrote immediately to 
>encourage that line of inquiry!)  Your message implies there is always some 
>resource to be found.  If there has been research on the subject, it's 
>buried in some library; but my first assumption is the idea is novel . . . 
>and likely has not been researched.  Sometimes one must find tangential 
>resources and extrapolate.
>
>It's also important to point out graduate-level research is intended to 
>involve moving beyond existing and established research and knowledge.  
>Thank goodness!  Otherwise we'd be churning out MAs and PhDs who just 
>repeat the same research and information that's their professors taught, 
>and their professors before them, and so on and so on.
>
>To move 'beyond' existing and established research and knowledge requires 
>meeting and talking with supervisory/thesis committee members; reaching 
>agreement about the validity of such inquiry; deciding upon appropriate 
>method(s) of research/survey and interpretation; etc.  It *is* a difficult 
>path to tread . . . but rewarding to contribute new perspectives.  (The 
>next best discovery is still awaiting its discovery, right?)
>
>From my perspective, our responses were encouraging of the line of inquiry 
>which implies a void of knowledge of the subject.  Also, don't ignore 
>reference to some potentially applicable Post-Colonial theorists and 
>historical precedents: (1) The "noble savage" was described by Jean-Jacques 
>Rousseau differently from how European colonists brought indigenous peoples 
>before their monarchs as a "freak show" . . . and all assumed a 
>holier-than-thou, "we're more civilized than them" approach.  And, (2) 
>European colonial powers' exclusion of the "Other" (the indigenous peoples 
>of the Americas) whilst plundering/raping the land of its natural resources 
>for export.  Helpful ideas, I'd hope . . .
>
>If Adrienne, Tim and I were there when Columbus set sail, we'd have been 
>supportive . . . unlikely to repeat threats that he'd fall off the edge of 
>the flat Earth or tell him to keep trying to find better and better maps 
>that simply didn't exist until he drew the map!
>
>Best wishes for a happy weekend,
>Sincerely,
>
>Jay Heuman
>Curator of Education
>Salt Lake Art Center
>
>20 South West Temple
>Salt Lake City, UT  84101
>Phone: 801.328.4201 x 21
>Fax: 801.322.4323
>URL: www.slartcenter.org
>
>Salt Lake Art Center:
>Celebrating 75 Years!
>1931-2006
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>On Behalf Of Gayle "Indigo Nights"
>Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 1:38 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Thesis Assistance
>
>Guys, I'm having a little trouble with the advice
>given, that basically she should tough it out and go
>it alone.
>
>What she's done is, rather than to make phone calls,
>or face-to-face visitions that may be out of her
>financial reach at the present (ever heard of starving
>students?), she's taken the approach of going to the
>group and asking for their inputs.  Doesn't mean she
>can't extrapolate your feedback into something that
>becomes her own, but she's taking "the smarter way,"
>in my book of getting expert advice at less expense.
>
>Anybody seen lately how god awful schooling has
>become?  I should hope that, if a student comes to
>this learned body and looks for assistance, they
>wouldn't be turned away and told go find it for
>yourself.  That doesn't mean a student should
>plagiarize anything; it just means that one should
>pour the knowledge between the ears through the spigot
>of the internet to lend them a hand.
>
>Not picking on Jay or anyone.  I just believe we have
>a responsibility to help our young people where we
>can, and they have a responsibility, as well, to help
>in return.
>
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