Ethnology

Deadline for submitting applications: August 1 - November 30

Who the programme is intended for: The programme is intended for graduates of any Bachelor’s degree programme.

Subject matter of the entrance examination: field examination. In this examination, the applicants’ knowledge of the given field of study is checked. This is done in the form of a motivation letter and an oral interview.

Requirements for the motivation letter: Length between 1,800 and 2,500 characters (including spaces). In your motivation letter, answer the following questions:

• a) Why do you want to pursue a follow-up Master's degree in Ethnology? What motivated or inspired your interest in ethnology?
• b) Which specific thematic area within ethnology interests you most (if you have several areas of interest, focus on one of them). What are the limitations of studying this topic, and how can ethnology contribute to a better understanding of the issue?
• c) What do you understand by the term ethnographic field research? Which approaches and methods have you used in your previous work, gained experience with, or would prefer to use in your future field research? What are their advantages and limitations? In your opinion, what is currently the most pressing issue concerning research methods and/or research ethics?
• d) Describe the specific intention of your potential Master’s thesis in terms of its topic, methods, and objectives. Also discuss how scholarly debate on this issue has developed in recent years (you may build on the previous parts of your motivation letter).
• e) Which ethnological book, study, publication, exhibition, or academic event particularly interested, inspired, or influenced you during your previous studies in ethnology or a related field? Did it shape your thinking or even influence your choice of study programme?

  Upload the motivation letter into your electronic applications (rubric “Documents”) by 30 November. Applicants are required to include their full name and application number on the motivation letter.

  The oral interview consists of two parts:
  • a) a discussion over the motivation letter
  • b) basic orientation of the applicant in the field of methodology, historiography, and basic topics of ethnological research.

    Waiver of the entrance examination: The entrance examination may be waived for applicants whose overall result of the Bachelor's State Examination in programme of Ethnology at the MU Faculty of Arts was assessed as “passed with excellent results”. Applicants can ask for a waiver for the entrance examination via the e-application form, section "Application for waiver of the entrance examination".

    Web Department of European Ethnology.

    General information on the course of the admission procedure to the follow-up Master’s degree programmes at FA MU can be found here. Documents for the current admission procedure are kept in Materials for Applicants.

Pass/fail line of the entrance examination: 50 points (out of 100).

The objective of the Master’s degree programme in ethnology is to deepen the knowledge acquired in the course of the Bachelor’s degree programme. At theme-based lectures, ethnology is presented as a branch of science with specific methods. The teaching of scientific work is based on the improvement of formal skills, as well as on the development of students’ creativity, their problem-solving and assessment abilities and decision-making.

Upon successful completion of the programme, the graduate is able to:

• identify basic facts regarding traditional Czech culture in its historical development;
• have basic knowledge about the ethnogenesis of European, especially Slavic, nations;
• conduct research;
• assess and propose research methods;
• write specialist articles;
• identify and analyze matters of culture with emphasis on social context in historical development.

They are also able to work both in basic and applied research and can employ the acquired knowledge in purely scientific, popular and presentation areas. Their body of knowledge and methodological training provides them with a sufficient base for joining academic and museum institutions, participating in scientific and pedagogical activities at universities, for work in education including the leading and development of free-time activities, in non-profit organisations working with ethnic minorities including international level (e.g. humanitarian organisations etc.), as well as with the ability to assess and propose research methods.

The diploma thesis proceeds from the carried-out research which is based on own fieldwork or on treatment of suitable historical and documentation collections. The standard volume of a diploma thesis is minimally 140 000 characters including footnotes, a title page, a table of content, a bibliography, sources, respondents and other sources. The students can work with already published texts, editions and data accessible for a secondary analysis. The theme of a diploma thesis is based on a project, worked-out by the student, the content orientation and quality of which are assessed and commented on by an advisor nominated by the Institut's management; the advisor also approves the final form of the thesis. In his/her diploma thesis, the student is to demonstrates his/her ability to define a thematically compact research target, to choose corresponding methods to fulfil it, to carry out his/her own field research, to work critically with expert texts and - when working with respondents - to formulate replies to research questions phrased in the diploma thesis project. The instructions for final state examinations and elaboration of diploma theses are regulated by Directive 6/2017 on Final State Examinations at the Faculty of Arts, ordered by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, (see https://is.muni.cz/auth/do/phil/uredni_deska/predpisyFFMU/smernice/smernice_dekana_2017-6.pdf?vysl=80672).

After completion of the Master’s degree study the graduet can continute in doctoral studies of ethnology or in doctoral studies related disciplines.