About me
About
My name is Dr. Melanie Sindelar
I’m a social and cultural anthropologist with a strong interest in the intersections of art, power, and global circulation. I started out in archaeology, but soon found my way to anthropology. After completing my MSc in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, where I specialized in the Middle East, I returned to Vienna to pursue my PhD. My doctoral research, supported by a prestigious IFK Junior Fellowship and a research stay at the Max Planck Institute in Halle/Saale, focused on how contemporary artists in the United Arab Emirates engage with national narratives. I spent extensive time in the Gulf, conducting fieldwork in art institutions, gallery districts, art fairs, and art schools. I’m currently working on my first book manuscript based on this fieldwork, which is under review with an academic press.
After completing my PhD with distinction, I moved through the familiar postdoc circuit: I held positions at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum, and Charles University Prague. I also served as a visiting professor at Central European University, where I taught an art-based methods course and supervised students working with film, photography, performance, and other creative formats. This experience deepened my commitment to creative and practice-based approaches in anthropology.
Today, I’m an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Charles University Prague. I teach on museum studies, art anthropology, decolonization, and restitution, and I supervise student projects in these areas. I also serve as the editor-in-chief of Urban People, an international peer-reviewed journal in urban anthropology based at Charles University.
My research explores the global art market and its dynamics, how art intervenes in hegemonic narratives, the role of so-called tribal art in contemporary collecting and display practices, and decolonization and restitution in ethnographic museums, particularly in Central Europe.
Alongside my academic work, I’ve long been active as an editor, coach, and workshop leader in academic writing and project development. I continue this work today through Emerge Scholars, where I support academics at all career stages through writing groups, coaching, and retreats.
I’m based in Prague for work, and also in Vienna, where I grew up, and where I also run an art blog called Art in Vienna, which features reviews of contemporary exhibitions. In my free time, I enjoy skiing, playing tennis, and reading poetry. I value deadlines, clarity, and a structured approach to work.
If you’re a student interested in working with me, feel free to get in touch, with a short proposal of your planned project.