Curriculum Vitae

Person-Related Identification Information

• Matouš Vencálek, born March 9, 1989, Brno

Department

• Department for the Study of Religions
  Faculty of Arts
  Masaryk University in Brno
  Czech Republic

Employment - Position

• Doctoral student

Education and Academic Qualifications

• 2015: degree conferred: Mgr.; Field of Study: FF RL Study of Religions; Thesis: "There and Back Again? Analysis of the Causes of Growing Tendencies of Adherence to the Contemporary Paganism. A Case Study of the Situation in the Czech Republic"; Department for the Study of Religions
• 2012: degree conferred: Bc.; Field of Study: FF RL Study of Religions; Thesis: "Neo-druidism and the Problem of Continuity with the Tradition of the Celtic Religion"; Department for the Study of Religions

Teaching Activities

• Spring 2019: FF:RLB303 Study Trip in Religion
• Autumn 2018: FF:RLB405 Religion and Violence (guest lecture)
• Spring 2018: FF:RLB303 Study Trip in Religion
• Autumn 2017: FF:RLB405 Religion and Violence (guest lecture)
• Autumn 2017: FF:RLB510 Neopaganism
• Spring 2017: FF:RLB303 Study Trip in Religion
• Autumn 2016: FF:RLB405 Religion and Violence (guest lecture)
• Autumn 2016: FF:RLB510 Neopaganism
• Spring 2016: FF:RLB303 Study Trip in Religion

Scientific and Research Activities

• Participation in Conferences
• 2016: Annual EASR Conference "Relocating Religion" (Helsinki, June 28-July 1, 2016); presentation "Religious, Socio-cultural and Political Worldviews of Contemporary Czech Pagans"
• 2016: 12th ISORECEA Conference & ESA RN34 Mid-term Conference "Religion and Non-Religion in Contemporary Societies: Theoretical, Empirical and Methodological Challenges for Research in Central and Eastern Europe and Beyond" (Zadar, April 21-24, 2016); presentation "Virtual Faith? Religion in (and out of) Video Games"
• 2015: XXI. World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (Erfurt, August 23-29, 2015); presentation "Contemporary Paganism and Politics: The Relation of Political and Religious Views among Czech Pagans"
• 2015: 1st International Conference on Invented Religions (Krakow, March 28, 2015); presentation "'Blessings of the Nine Divines upon You!' Religions Based on Video Games"
• 2014: Gender in Neopagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe (Krakow, March 7-9, 2014); presentation "From Pagan Studies to Scientific Study of Modern Paganisms" (together with Adam Anczyk)
• 2013: 12th Annual EASR Conference "Religion, Migration, Mutation" (Liverpool, September 3-6, 2013); presentation "(Re)Constructing the Ritual in Contemporary Paganism"
• 2013: Witchcraft, Magic and Popular Religion - XI Gustav Vasa seminar (Jyväskylä, June 11-12, 2013); presentation "(Re)Constructing the Ritual in Contemporary Paganism"
• 2012: Towards a Symmetrical Approach: The Study of Religions After Postmodern and Postcolonial Criticism (Brno, November 29 - August 1, 2012); presentation "Homecoming experience: Retroactive interpretation or valid analytical category?".
• 2012: 11th Annual EASR Conference "Ends and Beginnings" (Stockholm, August 23-26, 2012); presentation "Individual Beginnings of the Pagan Pathways".
  
  
• Participation in projects
• 2016: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges of the Study of Religions (MUNI/A/0931/2015)
• 2014: Epistemological problems of research in the Study of Religions (MUNI/A/0780/2013)
• 2013: Interdisciplinary approaches in the Study of Religions (MUNI/A/0747/2012)

University Activities

• 2018 -: Member of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR)
• 2017 -: Member of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Arts
• 2016 -: Member of the Czech Association of Doctoral Students
• 2014 - 2014: Member of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Arts
• 2012 -: Member of the Czech Association for the Study of Religions
• 2011 -: Chief of the Religious Studies Thematic Evenings
• 2009 -: Chief of the Religious Studies Movie Club

Activities Outside University

• 2014: Popular-science lecture "Religion in Japan"; (part of the festival of Japanese culture and pop-culture "Natsucon")
• 2011: Popular-science lecture "Neo-druidism and the Problems of its Continuity with the Tradition"; (part of the "Mezi Světy" festival)
• 2011: Popular-science lecture "The Religion of the Celts"; (Religious studies thematic evening)
• 2010: Popular-science lecture "Shinto"; (part of the festival of Japanese culture "Advík")
• 2010: Popular-science lecture "Ainu"; (part of the festival of Japanese culture "Advík")
• 2010: Popular-science lecture "The Religion of the Celts"; (part of the Fantasy Festival "Pagancon" line)
• 2009: Popular-science lecture "Shinto"; (part of the festival of Japanese culture "Advík")

Awards Related to Science and Research

• 2011: Third prize in the Shinto Essay Competition for work called "Shrines and Trees in the Occident, Adaptation of Jinja Shinto to the Western Culture"

Major Publications

• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Alternative Religiosities Before, Under and After the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. In 17th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR): Religion – Continuations and Disruptions, 25.-29.6. 2019, Tartu, Estonsko. 2019. URL info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Religious, Socio-cultural and Political Worldviews of Modern Pagans in the Czech Republic. In 35th Biennial ISSR Conference, Barcelona, 9-12 July 2019. 2019. URL info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Kříž, půlměsíc, kolovrat a kalašnikov: O roli náboženství v ukrajinské válce. Deník Referendum, 2018. ISSN 2533-5987. URL info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Western Esotericism and Modern Paganism in the Czech Republic. In Consciously Illicit : Transgression in Western Esotericism, 6.-7.6. 2018, Brno. 2018. info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Sacred Nature, Sacred Earth and Sacred Soil. In 16th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), 17-21.6. 2018, Bern. 2018. URL info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Archaeological Sites as Space for the Ritual Practice of Contemporary Czech Pagans. In Leskovar, Jutta; Karl, Raimund. Archaeological Sites as Space for Modern Spiritual Practice. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018. s. 170-181. ISBN 978-1-5275-1610-6. info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Modern Paganisms and the Public: Presentation and Representation of Contemporary Pagans. In Annual EASR Conference "Communicating Religion", Leuven, 18-21 September. 2017. info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Religious, Socio-cultural and Political Worldviews of Contemporary Pagans in the Czech Republic. Pomegranate: The International Journal Of Pagan Studies. Equinox, 2017, roč. 19, č. 2, s. 233-250. ISSN 1528-0268. doi:10.1558/pome.33834. URL info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Virtual Faith? Religion in (and out of) Video Games. In 12th ISORECEA Conference & ESA RN34 Mid-term Conference "Religion and Non-Religion in Contemporary Societies: Theoretical, Empirical and Methodological Challenges for Research in Central and Eastern Europe and Beyond" (Zadar, Croatia, April 21-24). 2016. info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Religious, Socio-cultural and Political Worldviews of Contemporary Czech Pagans. In Annual EASR Conference "Relocating Religion" (Helsinki, June 28-July 1). 2016. info
• ANCZYK, Adam a Matouš VENCÁLEK. Coming Home to Paganism: Theory of Religious Conversion or a Theological Principle? Studia Religiologica. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2013, roč. 46, č. 3, s. 161-171. ISSN 0137-2432. doi:10.4467/20844077SR.13.013.1601. info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Shrines and Trees in the Occident: Adaptation of Jinja Shintô to the Western culture. In Shinto Kokusai Gakkai. Toward a deeper understanding of Shinto Culture; Essays on Shinto: Volume 6. Tokyo: Shinto Kokusai Gakkai, 2012. s. 120-131, 11 s. ISBN 978-4-9906460-2-8. info
• VENCÁLEK, Matouš. Motivations for Taking the Pagan Paths : A Case Study among the Czech Pagans. In Anczyk, A.; Grzymała-Moszczyńska, H. Walking the Old Ways : Studies in Contemporary European Paganism. Katowice: Sacrum Publishing House, 2012. s. 119-130. ISBN 978-83-933048-2-0. URL info

2019/04/13