Zita Skořepová
Zita Skořepová
QUALIFICATIONS
2015 Ph.D., Integral Study of Man – General Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague
2012 Mgr., General Anthropology – Integral Study of Man, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague
2009 Bc., Liberal Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague
PRINCIPAL RESEARCH INTERESTS
Fieldwork in Music Anthropology; Urban Ethnomusicology; Music of Minorities and Migrant Communities; Viennese Czechs; Czech Folklore Revival Movement; Music, Dance and Identity; Communicative and Cultural Memory; Heritagization
RESEARCH PROFILE
As an ethnomusicologist and anthropologist, I have always focused on researching music as an acculturation strategy and representation of minorities, especially foreign communities in Prague. Since my PhD, I have been working for a long time on the music and dance of the contemporary Czech minority in Vienna. I have published a monograph on this topic, Hudební světy české Vídně (Czech Vienna Soundscapes, 2022), which for the first time examines the forms and meanings of Czech music and dance activities in the Austrian music scene as an anthropological mirror of the relationship to the Czech lands and to Austria as both home and host country. My next field of research became the folklore movement in Czechoslovakia since the second half of the 20th century. Tracing the fusions of local folklore with klezmer and Israeli dances, I examine contemporary ways of relating to folklore and its use in various situations beyond its original contexts, as a means of remembering and negotiating the identity of place, for example. I am also deeply interested in musical activities in everyday life as part of communicative and cultural memory, as well as the interrelation of music with other disciplines (pedagogy, theatre).
Books
2022 Hudební světy české Vídně: menšina a identita v 21. století [Czech Vienna Soundscapes: Minority and Identity in the 21st Century]. Praha: Koniasch Latin Press.
2021 Tíha a beztíže folkloru. Folklorní hnutí druhé poloviny 20 století v českých zemích [The Weight and Weightlessness of Folklore. Folklore Revival Movement of the Second Half of the 20th Century in Czech Lands]. Praha: Academia. (co-authors Stavělová, Daniela (ed.) – Černíčková, Kateřina – Gremlicová, Dorota – Kratochvíl, Matěj – Pavlicová, Martina – Uhlíková, Lucie – Vaněk, Miroslav – Vejvoda, Zdeněk – Zdrálek, Vít)
2014 Prague Soundscapes. Praha: Karolinum. (co-authors Jurková, Zuzana (ed.) – Seidlová, Veronika – Jonssonová, Pavla – Balog, Peter)
2013 Pražské hudební světy [Prague Soundscapes]. Praha: Karolinum. (co-authors Jurková, Zuzana (ed.) – Seidlová, Veronika – Jonssonová, Pavla – Balog, Peter)
Journal Articles
2024 UNESCO heritage, remembrance, and contemporary identity: festivities of Jewish culture in small towns in the Czech Republic. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. Published online 24 October 2024.
2023 “Zpěváček” Folk Singing Competition: Regional Identity and Heritage Performance in the Czech Republic. Traditiones 52(2): 105–124.
2022 Společenský zpěv jako aspekt životního stylu 20. století očima českého porodníka a zpěváka každodennosti Antonína Doležala [Social Singing as an Aspect of the Twentieth-Century Lifestyle through the Eyes of Antonín Doležal, a Czech Obstetrician and Singer of Everyday Life]. Národopisná revue 32(4): 280–292.
2022 Czechoslovak Folk Music and Dance Ensembles and the World Youth Festival in the 1950s: An Ethnomusicology and Oral History Perspective. Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology 22(1): 47–61.
2022 The Turnarounds: identita vídeňských Čechů třetí a čtvrté generace a rakouská hudební interkultura [The Turnarounds: Identity of third- and fourth-generation Viennese Czechs and Austrian musical interculture]. Český lid 109(1): 9–33.
2021 Exotismus, jazz a hudebně-divadelní myšlení E. F. Buriana ve dvacátých letech 20. století [Exoticism, Jazz and E. F. Burian’s Ideas on Music and Theatre in the 1920s]. Divadelní revue 32(1): 7–33.
2019 Cultural memory, underground and mainstream culture reminiscences in the Czech Republic. Ethnomusicology Forum 28(3): 362–383.
2018 Hudba a děti první republiky: nové koncepce hudební výchovy v Československu z etnomuzikologické perspektivy [Music and Children of the First Republic: New Concepts of Music Education in Czechoslovakia from an Ethnomusicological Perspective]. Historia scholastica 4(2): 18–30.
2018 Viennese Czechs dance the “Czech Beseda”: form and meaning of the dance in the 21st century. Český lid 105(4): 377–396.
2016 Hudba jako antropologické zrcadlo menšiny na příkladu výzkumu hudebních aktivit současných vídeňských Čechů [Music as an anthropological mirror of a minority: an example of research on musical activities of contemporary Viennese Czechs]. Národopisná revue 26(2): 132–143.
2012 Acculturation Strategies in Musical Self-Presentations of Immigrants in the Czech Republic. Lidé města/Urban People 14(2): 369–384.
2010 Ziriab – Arabic Music in the Czech Republic. Lidé města/Urban People 12(2): 399–417.
Book Chapters
2018 Theoretical Concepts in Ethnomusicology and Study of the Folklore Revival Movement: the Case of the Prague Ensemble Gaudeamus. In: Stavělová, Daniela – Buckland, Theresa (eds.): Folklore Revival Movements in Europe post 1950: Shifting Contexts and Perspectives. Praha: Etnologický ústav AV ČR, pp. 243–256.
2013 Marginalizace národní identity u současných vídeňských Čechů: Maturitní a reprezentační ples / Contemporary Viennese Czechs and the marginalization of their national identity: Representational and Graduation Ball. In: Jurková, Zuzana – Stellmacher, Martha – Skořepová, Zita – Kuhnová, Kristýna – Seidlová, Veronika: Tóny z okrajů: Hudba a marginalita / Sounds from the Margins. Praha: Kher, pp. 30–42, 99–112.
Ongoing Projects and Grants
2025–2028 Migration and Us: Mobility, Refugees and Borders in a Humanities Perspective. Johann Amos Comenius Programme Project, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008741). Researcher.
Past Projects and Grants
2022–2024 Folklore revival in post-socialist countries: politics, memory, heritization and sustainability. GACR-ARRS, Weave Lead Agency Project (GF22-31474K). Researcher.
2017–2019 Tíha a beztíže folkloru: Folklorní hnutí druhé poloviny 20. století v českých zemích [Weight and Weightlessness of the Folklore: The Folklore Movement of the Second Half of the 20th Century in Czech Lands]. Czech Science Foundation Standard Project (GA17-26672S). Researcher.
Editorial Work
Ongoing Lidé města/Urban People, Editorial Board Member.
Board Memberships
2023 Program Committee Co-Chair of the 4th Symposium of the International Council for Traditional Music and Dance Study Group on Music and Dance of the Slavic World.
External Reviewing
Project Evaluation: The Charles University Grant Agency, Project proposal evaluation (2024).
Book Proposal and Manuscript Evaluation: Karolinum (Charles University Press)
Journal Articles Manuscript Review: Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia litterarum,
Bulletin Muzea Romské kultury, Český lid, Journal of World Popular Music, Lidé
města/Urban People, Národopisná Revue, Traditiones, Živá hudba.
Bachelor and Master’s Thesis Supervision and Examination: Faculty of Humanities, Charles University.
Teaching Experience
2014–2016 Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague.
Conference and Workshop Organisation
2024 September, 3. Hebrew & Arabic Songs: Musicking side by side in the MENA Region. Workshop and concert, Musicological Library of the Institute of Art History of the CAS, Prague. (co-organiser Tachouche, Mohamed Badredine)
2023 October, 5–7. 4th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Dance of the Slavic World, Faculty of Music and Dance, Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. (co-organizers Kratochvíl, Matěj – Hayashi, Lucie)
2022 November, 23. Music, Dance, and Urban Anthropology. Prague, Institute of Ethnology of the CAS. (co-organisers Stavělová, Daniela – Kratochvíl, Matěj – Vejvoda, Zdeněk)
2022 October, 4–5. David Rothenberg on Music and Nature. Can music make a difference to nature? Faculty of Humanities, Charles University and Institute of Ethnology of the CAS, Prague. (co-organisers Stavělová, Daniela – Kratochvíl, Matěj – Vejvoda,
Zdeněk)
2014 September, 3–7, Crossing Bridges. The 30th European Seminar in Ethnomusicology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University Prague. (co-organisers Jurková, Zuzana – Seidlová, Veronika)
2008 May, 24–June, 1, 5th Meeting of the ICTM Study Group Music and Minorities. Faculty of Humanities, Charles University Prague. (co-organiser Jurková, Zuzana)
Public Outreach
Ongoing Public lectures-concerts and performances of Hebrew and Yiddish songs.
