Markéta Zandlová is a social anthropologist and environmental anthropologist. She is the Head of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University.
Her research focuses on the socio-natural dimensions of climate change, with particular attention to drought, water governance, and participatory environmental policy. She bridges social anthropology and environmental sciences through long-term ethnographic research on how environmental change is experienced, negotiated, and translated into public and policy debates.
She was the principal investigator of the interdisciplinary applied project Stories of Drought (2019–2022) (www.pribehysucha.cz), funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR). The project, carried out in collaboration with climatology and geography, explored the local dimensions of extreme climate events in Czech rural areas and public participation in climate adaptation, with a particular focus on farmers and their engagement with landscapes shaped by drought.
She has published in Critical Policy Studies and Environmental Management, where she served as first author on studies on the role of ethnography in climate policymaking and participatory approaches to landscape resilience.
Earlier in her career, she focused on questions of ethnicity, nationalism, and identity politics, publishing a monograph Etnická mobilizace a politiky identit: Aromuni v Bulharsku (Ethnic Mobilisation and Politics of Identity: Aromanians in Bulgaria, 2015).
She is actively engaged in academic leadership and scholarly service. She has served as Chair of the Czech Association for Social Anthropology (CASA) and is involved in the EASA Environment and Anthropology Network. Since 2022, she has been a member of the Board of the Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences. She has also participated in academic governance at Charles University.
She is engaged in science communication, public lectures, workshops for policymakers and educators, and the development of educational materials on climate change and water and drought management.
Environmental anthropology
Anthropology of climate change
Drought and water governance
Participatory environmental policy
Ethnographic methods
Identity politics (earlier work)
2015: PhD. in Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University (Ethnic mobilization and identity politics: Aromanians in Bulgaria)
2006: M.A. in General Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University .
2005: M.A. in Theory of Culture, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2003: B.A. in Liberal Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University
2019–present: researcher, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University
2009 – present: assistant professor, Department of General Anthropology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University
2021 – present: consultations on climate communication, NGO People in Need o.p.s.
2021 – 2022: President of the Czech Association for Social Anthropology (CASA)
2014 – 2020: member of the editorial board, Biograf
2016 – 2017: member of the editorial board, Český lid / Czech Ethnological Journal
popularization of science: www.pribehysucha.cz
2019 – 2022: principal researcher; Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, „Stories of Drought: Local implications of extreme climate phenomena, their perception and actors‘ will to participate“ (TAČR TL02000048), www.pribehysucha.cuni.cz
2017 – 2019 – principal researcher of a sub-team; Specific University Research Project, „Social Processes in Urban Environment“, (SVV 260 470, Glokalizovaný svět a jeho místa)
2017: principal researcher; Progres Programme of the Charles University, project „České sucho", Progres Q22_206022_28
2009: researcher; project „Analysis of periodicals ublished by national minorities organizations in the Czech Republic"; Government Council for National Minorities; realization: Media Center 007
2008: researcher; project „Czech Republic - Opportunities for Improving Roma Employment“; Office of the Czech Government and the World Bank; realization: Institute of Ethnology AS CR, v.v.i.
2007: researcher, "Aromanians in Bulgaria - networks and contexts", GAUK programme 7601/2007
2006: researcher, „Criminality structures in socially excluded localities in Brno"; Department of Security Policy of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic; realization: CAAT at the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen
2006: researcher, „Analysis of socially excluded Roma localities in the Czech Republic and absorption capacity of entities involved in this field", Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic; realization: GAC spol.s.r.o.
Zandlová, M., Čada, K. 2023. Ethnographer as honest broker: the role of ethnography in promoting deliberation in local climate policies. Critical Policy Studies, DOI: 10.1080/19460171.2023.2258174<https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2023.2258174>
Zandlová, M., Skokanová, H. & Trnka, M. 2023. Landscape Change Scenarios: Developing Participatory Tools for Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change. Environmental Management 72, 631–656 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-023-01840-x
Zandlová, M., Skokanová, H. 2023. Voda a sucho v perspektivě sociálních věd. Sborník příspěvků 15. bienální konference Asociace pro vodu ČR, str. 12-21. ISBN 978-80-908629-3-7
Zandlová, M. 2020. Etika výzkumu. In: Novotná, H.; Špaček, O.; Šťovíčková Jantulová, M. (eds). Metody výzkumu ve společenských vědách, Praha, Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta humanitních studií. S. 57-90
Zandlová, M. 2020. Rozhovor. In: Novotná, H.; Špaček, O.; Šťovíčková Jantulová, M. (eds). Metody výzkumu ve společenských vědách, Praha, Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta humanitních studií. S. 315-352
Zandlová, M. 2015. Etnická mobilizace a politiky identit. Aromuni v Bulharsku. Praha: FHS UK (Charles University Monographs Competition Award)
Vaňková, M. 2012. Bulgarian Aromanian elites and identity politics in cross-border networks. In: Nowicka, E. (ed): The Politics of Culture. Perspectives in stateless nationalities/ethnic groups. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa. S. 45 – 56
Vaňková, M. 2010. Výzkumník lapený: Úvahy k (a)symetrii vztahů mezi výzkumníkem a zkoumaným. Biograf (52-53): 103 – 118
Vaňková, M. 2010. Město Moskopole v paměti bulharských Aromunů. Mýtus, paměť, identity. In: Soukupová, B., Novotná, H., Jurková, Z., Stawarz, A.: Evropské město. Identita, symbol, mýtus. Bratislava: Zing Print. S. 227-246
Charles University
Faculty of Humanities
Pátkova 2137/5
182 00 Praha 8 - Libeň
Czech Republic
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