Prof. Dr. Mojca Ramšak

Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology

Mojca Ramšak, PhD

Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology at University of Ljubljana and Professor of Anthropology at AMEU–ISH, Faculty for Postgraduate Studies in Humanities

E: mojca.ramsak@guest.arnes.si

 

Biography

Mojca Ramšak (1969, Maribor, Slovenia), PhD in ethnology from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Full Professor and Senior Research Fellow. She is a researcher, postgraduate professor, and author in the fields of ethnology, cultural/social anthropology, and folklore studies that go beyond current disciplinary practice. Her focus is on applied research and the use of critical, experimental, and traditional forms of qualitative inquiry in the interest of social justice, human dignity, and human rights. Her work integrates knowledge from a variety of disciplines, including ethnology, cultural and social anthropology, philosophy, history, medicine, biology, and law.

Education

The University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Slovenia: 1993 (BA in Ethnology and Professor of Philosophy), 1997 (M.A. in Ethnology) and 2000 (PhD in Ethnology).

Habilitation

Full Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology (2021) at the University of Ljubljana; Full Professor of Anthropology (2014), Associate Professor (2009–2014) and Assistant Professor (2004–2009) at ISH, Ljubljana (today AMEU–ISH, Ljubljana, Faculty for Postgraduate Studies in Humanities). She was awarded scientific and research titles by SRC SASA and again the University of Ljubljana.

Employment History

The University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts 1993–2000, 2009-; Institute of Slovene Ethnology SRC SASA 2001–2005; Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, Ljubljana Graduate School for the Humanities (today’s name AMEU – ISH, Ljubljana, Faculty for Postgraduate Studies in Humanities) 2005–2010; IEDC – Bled School of Management 2013–2014; The University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine, Institute for History of Medicine 2019–2022; The University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Heritage Science Laboratory 2022-.

She co-founded (2001) and led the Centre for Biographical Research in Ljubljana 2001–2021.

Pedagogical work

The University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts 1993–2000; Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, Ljubljana Graduate School for the Humanities (From 2006 to 2012 she was the chair of the postgraduate study programme of Anthropology of everyday life); IEDC – Bled School of Management 2013–2014 (cooperation in the doctoral study programme of leadership); AMEU – ISH, Faculty for Postgraduate Studies 2016- (professor of Humanities I, Humanities II, Applied Medical Anthropology and Ethics in science and research integrity).

She taught as an invited lecturer at universities in Vienna, Austria (1995), Łodž, Poland (1995), Zagreb, Croatia (1996), Klagenfurt, Austria (1998), St. Petersburg, Russia (2000), Bratislava, Slovakia (2003, 2011, 2013, 2019), Salzburg, Austria (2009), Rijeka, Croatia (2019) and Cairo, Egypt (2023).

Field of Research

Main research interests: ethnology, cultural/social anthropology, folklore, oral history, lexicography, ethics, qualitative inquiry, medical anthropology, medical humanities, history of medicine, medicine and law, anthropology of everyday life, anthropology of gender, business anthropology, honour and good name, Slovenian minority in Austrian, culture/heritage of wine, intangible cultural heritage, anthropology of senses, anthropology and heritage of smell.

Membership in Slovenian and international advisory bodies

She is the chair of the Ethical Committee at The Slovene Ethnological Society (2007-) and a member of scientific evaluation committees in Slovenia and Europe (2007-). Since 2015, she is an evaluator of the ethics of research projects at the European Commission, and since 2009 she is an evaluator of research projects for several European research agencies.

She was a member of the Journalist’s Court of Honour (2011–2013).

Since 2020, she is a member of the expert commission for preservation and presentation of cultural heritage at the Municipality of Maribor. Since 2022, she is a member of the national expert commission on intangible cultural heritage at the Ministry of Culture of Slovenia. Since 2024 she is a member of Management Committee of Cost Action CA22159 – National, International and Transnational Histories of Healthcare, 1850–2000 (EuroHealthHist).

She is currently the leader of large basic project "Smell and Intangible Cultural Heritage" at ARIS.

Dr. Ramšak was the organizer or involved in the co-organization of many domestic or international conferences.

Bibliography

Dr Ramšak published nine scientific monographs and one scientific corpus in Slovene, English or the Slovak language.

- Tako smo živeli: življenjepisi koroških Slovencev 1–10: stvarno, krajevno, osebno kazalo ter kazalo hišnih imen. Celovec 2002 [That's how we lived: Life stories of Carinthian Slovenes 1–10: subject index, index of local names, index of personal names and index of house names, Klagenfurt 2002]

- Portret glasov. Raziskave življenjskih zgodb v etnologiji – na primeru koroških Slovencev. Ljubljana 2003 [The Portrait of the Voices: The Research of Life-stories in Ethnology: The Case of Carinthian Slovenes]

- Žrtvovanje resnice. Opoj zmuzljivih diskretnih nediskretnosti. Maribor 2006 [Sacrifice of the Truth: The Spell of Slippery Discreet Indiscretions]

- Družbeno-kulturne podobe raka dojk v Sloveniji = Social and cultural imagery of breast cancer in Slovenia.Ljubljana 2007 (Slovene and English bilingual book); Spoločensko-kultúrne reflexie rakoviny prsníika v Slovinsku. Bratislava 2013 (updated translation in the Slovak language)

- Čast ni balast. Maribor 2011 [Honour is not a burden]

- Wine Queens: Understanding the Role of Women in Wine Marketing. Springer Cham 2015

- Zdravje in bolezen na Pohorju. Maribor, 2017 [Health and disease in Pohorje]

- Social Impact of Wine Marketing: The Challenge of Digital Technologies to Regulation. Springer Cham 2022.

- Antropologija vonja. Ljubljana, 2024.

She was a project leader and contributor of 378 entries on Slovene ethnology, methodology and history in Leksikon etnologije Slovencev/Lexicon of Slovene Ethnology (Ljubljana 2004, second edition 2007, third edition 2011); she had published in English language encyclopedias: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife (2006), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy tales (2008); The Sage Encyclopedia of Play (2009); she published at Lit Verlag, Cambridge Scholars, Springer, Karl Alber Verlag, etc.

She had conference lectures in Europe and the USA.

She was an editor or co-editor of several publications, series or journals, published in Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Slovakia and Germany:

- Bulletin and book series of Slovene Ethnological Society [Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva in Knjižnica Glasnika Slovenskega etnološkega društva] (Ljubljana, 1994–1998, five books); Bulletin of Slovene Ethnological Society [Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva] (Ljubljana, 1994–1998, fourteen numbers of the journal);

- Unterwegs ins Dorf (Klagenfurt, Austria, 1993–1994, two books);

- Mediterranean Ethnological Summer School (Piran, Slovenia, 1994–1995); Studi Slavi (Pisa, Italy, Klagenfurt, Austria, 1997);

- Slovene Ethnological Lexicon (Ljubljana, 2004, 2007, 2011);

- Življenjske pripovedi iz Ribniške doline [Life-stories from Ribnica Valley], (Ribnica, 2003);

- Emzin (Ljubljana, 2009);

- Social diversity and access to healthcare (Verlag Karl Alber, Baden-Baden, 2022; co-editor);

- Equal Access to Healthcare in Socially Diverse Societies (Verlag Karl Alber, Baden-Baden, 2023; co-editor).

She was a member of the editorial board of the scientific journal Etnolog (2003–2009, Ljubljana, Slovenia).

Currently, she is a member of the editorial board of International Review of Qualitative Research (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 2008-) Etnologia Slovaca et Slavica (Bratislava, 2018-) and Studia universitatis hereditati (2023-).

Some of her scientific and professional full-text articles in Slovene are available at the Digital Library of Slovenia; Etnolog; Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture; Pravo in ekonomija, Medicine, Law & Society, BMC Public Health, International journal of environmental research and public health, Fasciculi archaeologiae historicae, Portal of Croatian scientific and professional journals.

(Full bibliography online)

ORCID: 0000-0003-1934-5466