Anthropology of Europe

Research project: The Re-Enchantment of Central-Eastern Europe (ReEnchEu)

“ReEnchEu – The Re-Enchantment of Central-Easter Europe” is led by Dr. Alessandro Testa at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague. The project embraces the perspective of a historical anthropology of religious beliefs and practices in post-socialist central-eastern Europe after 1989.

The project will investigate historiographically, ethnographically, and comparatively the structural reasons and cultural conditions for this “re-enchantment”, with the aim of understanding the historical dynamics and social factors that have brought about this transformation in central-eastern Europe. In order to do this, a multidisciplinary research team has been formed consisting of five recognized scholars working from different disciplinary methodological angles (historical anthropology, social anthropology, sociology, folkloristics, and religious studies): Dr. Alessandro Testa, Dr. Zuzana Bártová, Dr. Agata Ładykowska, Dr. István Povedák, and Dr. Viola Teisenhoffer. Each investigator will conduct ethnographic research in four different locations in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary, using a variety of sources and interacting with a variety of social agents in order to gather relevant empirical evidence.

Team leader & members

• Dr. Alessandro Testa
• Dr. Zuzana Bártová
• Dr. Agata Ładykowska
• Dr. István Povedák
• Dr. Viola Teisenhoffer

Selected publications

• ISNART, A. TESTA (eds): Re-enchantment, Ritualization, Heritage-making: Processes Reconfiguring Tradition in Europe, themed issue of Ethnologia Europaea 50/1 (2020)
• TESTA, Alessandro. Rituality and Social (Dis)Order: The Historical Anthropology of Popular Carnival in Europe.1st ed vyd. New York: Routledge, 2021. 217 s. ISBN 978-0-367-61722-6.
• TESTA, Alessandro – KÖLLNER, Tobias. Introduction: Religion, Politics, and their Entanglements. In: KÖLLNER, Tobias. Politics of Religion : Authority, Creativity, Conflicts. 1st ed vyd. Berlin: LIT, 2021, s. 1-25. ISBN 978-3-643-91276-3.
• TESTA, Alessandro. Events that want to become heritage: Vernacularisation of ICH and the politics of culture and identity in European public rituals. In: KOCKEL, Ullrich – CLOPOT, Cristina – TJARVE, Baiba – CRAITH, Máiréad Ni. Heritage and festivals in Europe : performing identities. 1st ed vyd. London: Routledge, 2020, s. 79-94. ISBN 978-0-367-18676-0.

Contact

Charles University
Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Sociological Studies
Alessandro Testa, Ph.D.
E:  alessandro.testa@fsv.cuni.cz

More information

https://cuni.academia.edu/AlessandroTesta

We have an interest in motivated postgraduate students interested in anthropology in Europe.

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