Rebeka Kunej is a Research Associate at the Institute of Ethnomusicology, ZRC SAZU. Her research focuses on ethnochoreology, particularly on vernacular dance and dance cultures, folklore groups and festivals, processes of heritagization, and contemporary practices of ethno-identity dances. She is especially interested in the positioning of dance practices within broader social, cultural, and political contexts, as well as in the ways dance and movement practices co-create contemporary social space. She lectures at the ZRC SAZU Graduate School.
Rebeka Kunej’s primary academic field is ethnocoreology; consequently, her research focuses on dance at the intersection of ethnology, dance anthropology, and critical heritage studies. A graduate in ethnology, cultural anthropology, and geography, she obtained her MA in folklore studies from the University of Ljubljana (2004) and completed her PhD in intercultural studies – comparative studies of ideas and cultures at the University of Nova Gorica (2007).
She is the recipient of the 2012 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award, presented by Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, for her monograph on the folk dance štajeriš in the Slovenian context, and is the co-author of a monograph on a Slovenian musician in the United States and his Hoyer Trio. She served as editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Slovene Ethnological Society (2015-2019) and has been editor-in-chief of the journal Traditiones since 2023.
Her research has focused on the study of folk dance and dance practices, the history of folklore ensembles, folk dance groups, and folklore festivals in Slovenia, dance music on 78 rpm gramophone records, ethno-identity dance practices, and amateur cultural activities in socialist and post-socialist contexts.
Future research goals include the study of vernacular dance forms as social practices, with particular emphasis on veselica festivities, the relationship between ritual, sound, and movement in new age contexts, and the heritage-making processes of dance and related creative expressive practices.
Monographs
Music from both sides : gramophone records made by Matija Arko and the Hoyer Trio. 1st English ed. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2017. (co-author Drago Kunej)
Glasba z obeh strani : gramofonske plošče Matije Arka in Hoyer tria. 1. izd. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU; Ribnica: Rokodelski center, 2016. (co-author Drago Kunej)
Štajeriš : podoba in kontekst slovenskega ljudskega plesa, (Zbirka Folkloristika, 6). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2012. Award: Izjemni znanstveni dosežek 2012 - Humanistika - področje 6.04-Etnologija.
Articles / Chapters
Dancing for ethnic roots: folk dance ensembles of ethnic minority groups in Slovenia. Muzikološki zbornik, 2019, 55/2, 111-131, doi: 10.4312/mz.55.2.111-131. (co-author Drago Kunej)
Leaders and followers: artistic leaderships and stage presentations of folk dances in a Slovenian folklore ensemble. In: Stavělová, Daniela (ed.), Buckland, Theresa Jill (ed.). Folklore revival movements in Europe post 1950: shifting contexts and perspectives. Prague: Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. 2018, 257-277.
Spreminjajoči se teksti in konteksti velikonočnega plesa v Metliki. Traditiones, 2017, 46/3, 123-142, doi: 10.3986/Traditio2017460306.
Folk dance on the stage. In: Golež Kaučič, Marjetka (ed.). What to do with folklore?: new perspectives on folklore research, (B.A.S.I.S., vol. 9). Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag. 2017, 28-40.
Folklorna skupina v diaspori : soočanje tradicije in ustvarjalnosti v Ameriki. Etnolog 2016, 26 (77), 49-64. (co-author Drago Kunej)
Tanec a klobása - hmotná forma nehmotného kulturního dědictví, nebo naopak (Slovinské zkušenosti). Národopisná revue, 2015, 25/3, 283-290.
Etnokoreološke poti Mirka Ramovša. Traditiones, 2015, 44/2, 7-23, doi: 10.3986/Traditio2015440201.
Etnokoreološko raziskovanje Prekmurja in Porabja : preko Mure - preko oceana. In: Godina-Golija, Maja (ed.). Prekmurje - podoba panonske pokrajine. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU. 2014, 92-105.
Looking at folk dance : the overlooked resources of old gramophone records. In: Kunej, Drago (ed.), Šivic, Urša (ed.). Trapped in folklore?: studies in music and dance tradition and their contemporary transformations, (Musikethnologie, Bd. 7, vol. 7). Zürich; Berlin: LIT. 2013, str. 161-179.
Volkstanz in Slowenien heute. In: Froihofer, Waltraud (ed.). Volkstanz zwischen den Zeiten: zur Kulturgeschichte des Volkstanzes in Österreich und Südtirol. Weitra: Bibliothek der Provinz. cop. 2012, 150-154.
Staro na nov način : ljudska plesna dediščina in folklorne skupine. Etnolog, 2010, 20 (71), 135-148.
- Folklore and Ethnological Research on Slovenian Folk Culture (research programme • January 1, 2014 - December 31, 2018)
- Folk Music Heritage (INTERREG • September 1, 2018 - February 28, 2021)