Ever wonder about the lives of faculty and staff outside of the classroom? Please welcome our sixth guest – Daniel Bochsler, Assistant Professor in Department of Political Science, Nationalism Studies Program and Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy, and International Relations at CEU.
Q: What are your hobbies and interests?
A: One interest, which nicely interferes with my job, is travelling. I had the opportunity to do research on and in several countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. And most of these countries I entered first on my bicycle. Needless to say, travel experiences are a great basis for a chat at the bar, and they raise curiosity for proper research, but when academics make conclusions from their travels, they risk embarrassing themselves and their disciplines.
Q:Which blogs/websites do you read regularly?
A: I prefer traditional media: newspaper and radio. Though in a period, where traditional media outlets are under attack in several parts of the world, online media projects do a fantastic job in those countries that I find particularly interesting. BIRN and the Balkan Insight for the Western Balkans, or “Media.am”, or “civil.ge” for the South Caucasus.
Q: What is your favorite city in Europe and why?
A: There are several B-cities in Europe, where I very much enjoyed living in, for shorter or longer periods. Actually, in Serbo-Croat, Vienna is called Beč.
Q: What is your ideal Friday night-out?
A: I like new discoveries - places, cuisines, or persons, who are new to me. But professors are not public persons, and therefore do not share their favourite spots with the larger public that might read this interview online.
Q: If you had a chance to invite anyone to a dinner party, who would it be and why?
A: Maybe Gruevski or Erdogan? And invite the local public prosecutor as well.
Q: Describe yourself as a student.
A: I guess that my performance varied between different courses. Besides my study, I was a very passionate news journalist, on a part-time basis.
Q: What other academic sphere you could potentially see yourself in?
A: There are so many fascinating disciplines. As a scholar of ethnic politics, I was lucky enough to collaborate in different contexts, and in more or less intense ways, with scholars from several “neighbouring disciplines”, such as media and communication studies, sociology, history, public law, or statistics. This can be challenging, but is enriching. But I am fascinated to read, among others, by linguistics, maths, or many kinds of natural sciences and physical anthropology. They all do so impressive stuff, I have severe doubts that I would be able to cope in any of these disciplines.
Q: What one advice would you give to our students?
A: I do not get enough occasions to tell my students to keep their eyes open, read the news from countries around the globe, study languages, and use their opportunity of studying at an international university to develop their knowledge and interest for other regions than their countries of origin.