About us | Department of European Ethnology

Lecture room of the Department of European Ethnology J31

The Department of European Ethnology of the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University was founded in 1946. It started as a Seminar for Ethnography and Ethnology. In the last decade the department has been inspired by the new directions and experiments of foreign ethnology and anthropology, among others using empirical study of non-traditional themes, such as the urban environment. The vast majority of encyclopedic lectures and substantial parts of the training has moved to both parts of interpretations synthesizing and analyzing on comparative grounds.

It is the only teaching and research center in the Czech Republic systematically devoted to the study of traditional culture in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia in the context of historical and methodological currents in Europe.

Most lectures and seminars are characterized by an effort to capture the mutual influences and relationships between cultures and mode of life of European nations. The tutorial is annually renewed according to current options. Field research is one of the essential methods of ethnological research, and as a result forms an integral part of the program.

The Brno university work place is characterized by the fact that in addition to teaching for many decades, excursions are now organized for students, PhD students and external collaborators to go abroad for field research. From 1962 to 2005, a total of 44 excursions have been organized to 22 countries. In all the students spent a total of 270 days. The focus has been on familiarizing participants on selected areas in the field such as traditional folk customs, ethnographic museums, museums, monuments and art collections among many others.

People at the Department

doc. PhDr. Daniel Drápala, Ph.D.

vedoucí ústavu

Phone:	+420 549 49 3245
E‑mail:

Miroslav Válka focus on the issues of traditional material culture and within European ethnology also on Slavic nations, including specialized courses (Lusatian Serbs, Slovaks and Slovakia). In research work the graduates centre on the history of the branch, farming culture, folk building and the modern village.

prof. PhDr. Alena Křížová, Ph.D.

Department vice-head, Department of European Ethnology

Phone:	+420 549 49 4413
E‑mail:

Alena Křížová focus on clothing culture, folk art and folklorism.

prof. PhDr. Martina Pavlicová, CSc.

Phone:	+420 549 49 5883
E‑mail:

Martina Pavlicová focus on the theory and methodology of ethnology, historiography, social culture, folklore and ethno-cultural traditions.

doc. PhDr. Miroslav Válka, Ph.D.

Phone:	+420 549 49 7878
E‑mail:

Daniel Drápala focus on historical ethnology (esp. traditional forms of living and
transport), history of the branch, research into the ethno-cultural traditions of Moravian Záhoří and Moravian Wallachia, issues of local and regional identity, open-air museums.

PhDr. Roman Doušek, Ph.D.

Phone:	+420 549 49 3227
E‑mail:

Roman Doušek focus on traditional village culture, theory of ethnology, cultural and social transformations in the rural environment.

PhDr. Mgr. Oto Polouček, Ph.D.

Phone:	+420 549 49 5036
E‑mail:

Oto Polouček focuses on the transformation of society in the second half of the 20th century, with an emphasis on the countryside. He seeks inspiration for ethnological field research in the theoretical and methodological concepts of contemporary history and in his interest in the history of ethnology.

All people