Ethnology and Socio-Cultural Antropology in Slovakia: State-of-the-Arts
Alexandra Bitusikova
Research Institute of Matej Bel University, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
alexandra.bitusikova@umb.sk
Social, political and economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 has raised
intensive discussions concerning the transformation of higher education and research in all postcommunist countries. The question of modernising and internationalising curricula has become
an important issue in all ethnology (cultural / social anthropology) departments.1 During the
socialist era, all departments in Czechoslovakia followed similar methodological approaches to
the study of domestic cultural phenomena, which mostly centred on folklore and rural studies in a
historical perspective. This approach has often been considered as ‘our own Central and Eastern
European ethnographic tradition’, which should not, as such, be abandoned. The term
‘anthropology’ used to be mainly related to physical anthropology, considered as a pure natural
science. Following the breakdown of Communism, discussions about wider anthropological
perspectives of the discipline, about new theroretical and methodological approaches, new
subjects of research, and new curricula have started – often very controversial and even personal
(old school vs. new school, old generation vs. young generation, former communists vs. noncommunists, English-speaking vs. non-English speaking, professors vs. young researchers,
nationalists vs. Europeanists, etc.).
Slovak Ethnology/ Anthropology in Brief
2
The history of teaching and research in ethnology/anthropology in Slovakia dates back to 1921
when ethnography (etnografia or narodopis – two terms used in Slovakia as synonyms) became
one of the main subjects taught at the Faculty of Arts of the Comenius University in Bratislava.
Ethnography was regarded as a historical discipline that also included folklore studies and it was
often studied in combination with other disciplines, mostly history and archaeology, in a wider
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interdisciplinary perspective. In the first decades of its existence, ethnography at the Comenius
University developed along national-revivalist lines research with the aim of collecting and
preserving data about Slovak rural culture, in a predominantly idiographic way. Under the
influence of scholars such as Karel Chotek, Vilem Prazak, Peter Bogatyriov,3 Frank Wollman
and Bruno Schier, Slovak ethnography soon began to reflect and also to follow the
methodological trends of European anthropology, mainly functionalism and structural
functionalism. These new methodological orientations had a strong impact on the first generation
of Slovak-educated ethnographers, whose earlier studies had been influenced by functionalism
and diffusionism (see for example, Kovacevicova 1949, Melichercik 1939, 1947). Following the
Second World War, the Communist regime introduced a wide-ranging reform of academic
curricula leading to standardisation and unification of courses and a generalisation of
methodological approaches inspired by Soviet-Russian ethnographia, based on historicism and
historic materialism. All other methodological orientations were considered as ‘bourgeois
residue’, and those scholars who followed them were declared anti-Communists or ‘bourgeois
nationalists’ (like, for example, Sona Kovacevicova). Ethnography became an autonomous
subject of study and a discipline in its own right in 1947 when the Ethnography Seminar
(Narodopisny seminar) was renewed and reformed. Two ethnography professors, Andrej
Melichercik and Rudolf Bednarik, contributed to the further development of the discipline at the
Comenius University. In 1969, the department was transformed and renamed as the Department
of Ethnography and Folklore Studies.
Ethnographic research and teaching at the Department of Ethnography and Folklore
Studies in Bratislava maintained its main focus on studies ‘at home’. Ethnographic fieldwork was
centred on Slovak society and Slovak rural (folk) culture (material culture, kinship and marriage,
social organisation, ceremonies and folklore) in the Slavonic and Carpathian cultural area of
Central Europe, and studied in a diachronic perspective. Only a small number of lectures at the
Comenius University were centred on the study of other European or nonindustrial, extraEuropean societies. For political and ideological reasons, little opportunity existed to undertake
research in non-Communist areas, and therefore wider cross-cultural comparison, so essential to
anthropology, was often neglected. Despite ideological control of social and historical sciences
during the Communist period, Slovak ethnography generally did not succumb to the ideological
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influence of the Communist Party. This was, however, not a result of a professional bravery, but
mainly the fruit of a ‘right choice’ research focus on peasant communities dating from older, preCommunist times. The ethnographic study of ‘socialism’ was not developed because any
criticism of the socialist system would not be allowed. Majority of Slovak scholars therefore tried
to avoid topics related to socialist everyday life although some researchers were involved in the
“working class” research.
In addition to the Department of Ethnography and Folklore Studies at the Comenius
University, the Institute of Ethnography (Narodopisny kabinet, since 1955 Narodopisny ustav)
of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovenska akademia vied - SAV) had been founded in 1946
and has since become the central and leading institution for ethnological research, as well as the
sole postgraduate training centre. The research carried out at the Institute did not exceed the
boundaries of an ethnography focusing on Slovak society and culture, but, in spite of this, it
brought new thematic specialisations to bear, new trends and approaches to the study of Slovak
culture, such as the study of urban societies and urbanisation, migration and adaptation, ethnicity,
everyday culture (which belonged more to social history domain in Western Europe) etc. Since
1953 the Institute has been publishing the journal Slovensky narodopis. It has also been the seat
of the Slovak Ethnological Society (Narodopisna spolocnost Slovenska - NSS), which is a
national association of academic and professional ethnologists and anthropologists grouping
together about 300 members. The Society and the Institute also edit the journal Etnologicke
rozpravy (Ethnological Transactions).
Teaching Ethnology/ Anthropology
The fall of Communism in 1989 and the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic in
1993 have led to a certain number of changes in teaching and learning anthropology in the
country. The first change was a ‘cosmetic’ one: all academic and research centres have been
renamed from “ethnographic” to “ethnological” (and only recently also anthropological)
institutions. The new era has tended to liberate teaching from uniformity and homogeneity and
has revealed theoretical and methodological pluralism as well as diversity in research topics and
teaching approaches.
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1. The oldest department, the Department of Ethnography and Folklore Studies at the Faculty of
Arts of the Comenius University in Bratislava, has become the Department of Ethnology and
Cultural Anthropology. The orientation of the department has been broadened and now
includes three branches:
•
ethnology and cultural anthropology, which includes folklore studies
•
religious studies;
•
cultural heritage preservation and museology studies.
The main section of the department remains the ethnology branch, which offers undergraduate
(BA), graduate (MA) and postgraduate programmes (PhD). The curriculum reflects the
Department’s transformation process and combines ethnology, social and cultural anthropology,
and folklore studies.
2. New departments: In 1991 the Department of Folkloristics and Regional Studies, later renamed
Department of Ethnology and Ethnomusicology was established at the Constantin Philosopher
University in Nitra by several lecturers and researchers from the Slovak Academy of Science in
Bratislava. The syllabus offers courses on European and Slovak ethnology and folklore studies.
In addition to theoretical knowledge, it includes ethnomusicology (etnomuzikologia, the analysis
of music, musical instruments and performance), ethnochoreology (etnochoreologia, the theory
of dance) and practical training in folk music (singing and playing musical instruments and folkdancing). The Department is unique among Central European academic institutions because it
combines theory with artistic practice and performance. The students applying for this
programme have to pass a special entry examination that includes singing, playing a musical
instrument or dancing. The Department has developed and offers all three cycles. Although the
Department combines theory with practice, which is a very specific approach, the lecturers are
open to all kinds of new approaches and topics concerning post-Communist transformations in
society, and helps students to venture beyond the boundaries of ‘traditional’ ethnography.
3. The Department of Ethnology in Slovakia (Katedra etnologie) was founded in 1997 at SS.
Cyril and Method University in Trnava by Jan Podolak and lecturers from the eth nological
instituitions from Bratislava. Its long-term strategy is to focus not only on Slovak and European
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cultures and societies, but also on on extra-European cultures. The Department has several
younger scholars who introduced fresh topics in teaching and research such as globalisation,
ethnology vs. anthropology etc. The department edits the journal Ethnologia Actualis Slovaca.
4. The youngest department, the Institute of Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Social and
Economic Sciences of the Comenius University, was established in 2002. It offers undergraduate
(Bachelor) and postgraduate (PhD) courses in social anthropology. Active young scholars at the
institute founded also a professional association Slovak Association of Social Anthropology.
5. In addition to the four departments, ethnology/ social and cultural anthropology is also taught
at other Slovak universities, mainly at Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica which has a
Research Institute with its main area of specialisation in urban anthropology and diversity/
identity studies.
Ethnology/ Anthropology Research
Before 1989, like in other countries of the Eastern Block, basic research was mainly carried out
at academies of sciences, while universities´ main mission was teaching. This has changed, and
universities are becoming crucial centres of research. At the same time, academies of sciences
remain strong in most countries of the region.
In Slovakia, the former Institute of Ethnography (Narodopisny ustav SAV) was in 1994
transformed into Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The staff of forty
members before 1989 was reduced to twenty members in the 1990s. The Institute closely
cooperates with ethnology departments at universities in research, teaching and in organising
conferences. The postgraduate doctoral programme, which includes a European PhD programme
with foreign partners, run by the Institute has been split into full-time and part-time programmes.
Full-time doctoral programmes are open to young scholars on the basis of a competitive
examination (two or three internal students per year). The average annual number of part-time
scholars at the Institute ranges from five to twelve students.
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We can say that traditionally oriented research of the Slovak folk culture culminated in the 1970s
– 1980s and was finalised at the beginning of the 1990s by publishing large analytical
monographs (Ethnographic Atlas of Slovakia 1990, Encyclopaedia of Slovak culture 1995, Folk
Culture Atlases of the Slovaks in Hungary and in Romania, Slovakia - The European Contexts of
Folk Culture, 1997) and a number of regional monographs and monographs focusing on selected
cultural phenomena. This has been a good starting point for a broader comparative research in a
European context. In addition, ethnologists provided the contemporary Slovak society with
detailed information on its cultural heritage, which in times of globalisation may be more
important than we sometimes realise and admit.
In the 1990s ethnological research opened towards more interdisciplinary and international
cooperation. Post-socialist transformation has become a perfect laboratory for research although
it took some time to switch the attention to the study of contemporary society. New and hot
topics related to transformation of the society, establishment of the new independent state and
joining the EU started to be studied such as identity, ethnicity and ethnic relations, nationalism
and national myths, historic memory, minorities, migration, gender, changes in social structure,
social groups, urban and rural transformations, value orientations, etc. Topics that were neglected
in the past for ideological reasons (the Roma, the Jews, marginal groups, religious groups) also
opened new opportunities for research. Folklore phenomena continued to be studied in a changed
context as a special kind of social communication. New research themes include impact of
globalisation, tensions between the global and the local, diversity in its broad sense, migration
(not only emigration of the Slovaks, but also immigration to Slovakia and attitudes of the
society), etc. All these topics and approaches, however, are related to new phenomena that appear
in the society as a result of post-socialist transformation, European integration and globalisation,
and by studying them traditional ethnology came closer to social anthropology and also – in a
way - joined the same research field as sociology (although using different methodology). It
seems that contemporary ethnology research in Slovakia neglects the topics which were popular
before 1989 such as study of the development of regional and local cultures and their changes. In
rural Slovakia (still almost half of the country) one can still find a large number of living and
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developing phenomena of cultural heritage (handicrafts, family rituals, annual rituals, folklore).
In addition, due to impacts of globalisation and also growing international pressure (UNESCO
Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, 2005) there
is an increasing interest of the society in cultural heritage.
Following G. Kilianova (2005), research trends in contemporary Slovak ethnology in the new
millennium include:
1. Ethnological reflections of transformation processes in the Slovak society after 1989
2. Ethno-historical development of Central-European space
3. The role and contribution of the cultural heritage of Slovakia in the European context
4. History of the discipline.
Conclusion
The debate about the direction of Slovak ethnology/ anthropology is an ongoing process.
Following my own reflection on the past 18 years since 1989, I can say that it was too early to
expect critical evaluations and reflections on the development of Slovak ethnology in the first
years after 1989. Slovak scholars needed time to get acquainted with the discourse in
anthropology in other countries; some distance or detachment from pre-1989 research and from
emotional debates that followed 1989. When looking at Slovak ethnological production of recent
years, I can say that ethnology/ anthropology in Slovakia managed to move forward and to join
the European mainstream. Critical debates on the future of ethnology and social and cultural
anthropology have appeared in several professional journals and a conference on the topic was
organised at the ethnology department in Trnava in 2005. Both ethnology and social
anthropology are now included in the official list of accredited subjects of study at the Ministry
of Education as part of social sciences (before they were part of historic sciences). Several years
ago I wrote in one of my papers that ethnology in Slovakia reminded me of the Sleeping Beauty
waiting for a prince who would wake her up. I think that the prince arrived and the Sleeping
Beauty is alive and quite dynamic again.
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Notes
1. In Slovakia, ethnology is the term used either for a separate discipline or as an equivalent for
social and cultural anthropology. The discipline has gone through a transformation process from
ethnography (etnografia, narodopis), which was taught prior to 1989, towards ethnology and
social and cultural anthropology (socialna a kulturna antropologia).
2. The Slovak Republic was established on 1 January 1993 as a result of agreements negotiated
by the governments and parliaments of the Czech and the Slovak Republics. From 1918 to 1992
it was a part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, where there existed three Departments of
‘Ethnography’: in Bratislava (the oldest one, founded in 1921), in Prague and Brno.
3. Peter Grigorievic Bogatyriov was the first scholar in Slovakia to introduce functional
structuralism in his article, ‘Funkcno-strukturalna metoda a ine metody etnografie a folkloristiky’
(The functional–structural method and other methods in ethnography and folkloristics), Slovenske
pohlady, 1935. He applied functional structuralism in his later works Funkcie kroja na
Moravskom Slovacku (The folk costume function in Moravske Slovacko), Bratislava, 1937;
Lidove divadlo ceske a slovenske (Folk theatre – Czech and Slovak), Bratislava, 1949.
4. This specialisation was a result of an agreement between the three ethnography departments in
Czechoslovakia: the Bratislava department was supposed to focus on Slavonic and Carpathian
cultures, the Prague department on non-European societies, and the Brno department on
European societies.
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