TA Group 11

 

Group members

 

 

Distribution of roles

 

 

Discussion of issues

 

 

When we found our literature with agreement by profesor Hočevar, we determined the chapter that we found most interesting and in the same way most likely linked to the Ljubljana circumstances. After that we defined our research title.

 

At the begining of the research we will briefly describe the findings of Sharon Zukin in her book The Cultures of Cities. Further on we will concentrate on Ljubljana and its immigrant restaurants and alongside we will try to put out the positive and negative sides of these kind of restaurants (meaning how are the employment options for the immigrants, salaries, are they the victims of discrimination etc.).

 

Research questions:

 

1. What is the case with immigrant restaurants abroad, in our case New York?

2. Which restaurants can we find in Ljubljana (Chinese, ex YU, etc.), how many are they, what do they offer and by which price; are they elite or more everyday (like fast food), do they also offer the meals for students and for how long they have been open (meaning how many years, months...)?

3. In which of these restaurants work immigrants themselves and which are the restaurants that offer tipical food of abroad countries but the workers there are Slovenians?

4. Why did they leave their native country and what make them choose Slovenia as their new country? (When did they immigrate, did they open the restaurant instantly or after a while?)

5. How many employees do they have, what are the work conditions like, what are salaries like?

6. What is education of the employees?

7. Does employees do any other work alongside this or is this job enough for the survival in Slovenia?

8. How did the owners gain the initial capital (heritage, hard work,..)?

9. Did the restaurants in the past have any problems with inspections and were employees ever victims of discrimination or physical violence?

10. Are employees content with their salaries and the owners with their business? Do they tend to stay in Slovenia?

 

Literature:

Zukin, Sharon (2004): The Cultures of Cities, Oxford.

The further literature will be add simultaneously, due to the need of our field research.

 

Task divisions:

We will leave the division of tasks open, namely we will distribute our tasks due to our interests, timetables and research needs.

 

 

 

Minutes of the 1st group meeting

 

 

Present: Nives D., Irena K., Alenka P., Sanja B., Rok R., Dejan T.

 

Agenda:

1. Refining the PBL problem

2. Finding the material

3. Any other business

 

Item 1:

 

Discussion:

 

We have checked the chapters of the following book »The cultures of cities«, which will be provided (for later use) by profesor Hočevar untill next week.

 

For now, we decided to work with the chapter Artists and Immigrants in New York City Restaurants (in comparison to Slovenia). In this chapter, we shall focus mainly to the (one of) the next titles:

• Restaurants as a Culture Site

• Immigrants and Global Trends

• Restaurants Owners- Restaurants Employees

• The Social and the Ethnic Divisions of Labour

• New York Restaurants- Ljubljana Restaurants (our comparison)

 

Item 2:

 

Decision:

 

In the next week we are going to meet profesor Hočevar to specify our research project and to talk about its problem.

 

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 15th or Thursday 16th, in November.

 

Minutes taker: Sanja, Alenka

 

Chair: Nives

 

 

Minutes of the 2nd group meeting

 

 

Present: Nives, Irena, Sanja, Alenka, Dejan, Rok

 

Agenda:

1. Refining the PBL problem (final solution)

2. Finding the material

3. 10 research questions

 

Item 1:

 

Discussion: Prof. Hočevar briefly sketched the direction of our research but left us the final decision about it. At the meeting we finally selected the topic that discuss immigrant restaurants. We will mostly rely on the literature quoted below, which will represent the groundwork of our research.

 

Decision: Positive and negative aspects of immigrant restaurants in Ljubljana.

 

Item 2:

 

Literature: As we mentioned in the »Discussion«, our basic literature will be »The Cultures of Cities« by Zukin Sharon. The author has researched the immigrant restaurants in New York, USA (it will be our guide trough our research).

 

Knjiga: Zukin, Sharon (2004): The Culture of Cities, Oxford.

 

We will add other literature simultaneously, due to the needs of our field research.

 

Item 3:

 

10 questions, to which we will try to answer along our research, will be put out through email contact and then published on the internet.

 

Minutes taker: Rok, Dejan

Chair: Irena

 

 

Minutes of the 3rd group meeting

 

 

Minutes of the 4th group meeting