Zora Mintalová-Zubercová (née Zubercová; born 7 June 1950) is a Slovak ethnographer, historian, museologist, and popular science author, best known for her study of food history and material culture of Slovakia, as well as the history of the Slovak Red Cross.
Early life and education
She was born in Martin, Czechoslovakia (modern-day Slovakia), the elder daughter of publishing editor and playwright Ján Zuberec and Darina Zubercová (née Pobudová). Both parents came from a gentry background and belonged to Slovak intellectual circles, which drew negative attention from the rising Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. After the communist takeover, the family fortune was nationalised, and her father was assigned to work in a brick factory. She attended grammar school in Martin and, with the help of a family friend, was able to apply for university despite adverse personnel files held by the Communist party. She studied ethnography and history at the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava, graduating in 1974 with a degree in ethnography. She earned her PhDr. in ethnography and history in 1980 from the same university.
Career
In 1974, she began working as a research assistant at the Ethnographic Institute of the Slovak National Museum. Due to her gentry background, she was not permitted to hold senior scientific positions during the socialist era. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, she became a Senior Researcher and, in 1990, Head of the Scientific-Research Department of the Slovak National Museum in Martin. She later served as the museum's deputy director (1996–2000). She was instrumental in founding the Slovak Red Cross Museum and served as its inaugural director until her retirement in 2009. She continues to work in food history research, publishing books and articles, and serves on the board of National Culture of the Slovak Republic.
Honours and awards
Her awards include the National Medal of Science of the Slovak Republic (1991, as part of a scientific team), the Giuseppe Pitrè–Salvatore Salomone Marino International Award for ethnological and anthropological studies (Palermo, Italy, 1995) for her work on the Encyklopédia ľudovej kultúry Slovenska, the Slovak National Museum medal for the development of museology (2000), the Commemorative medal of the Slovak Red Cross (2009), the Best Culinary History Book in Slovakia (Gourmand World Cookbook Award, 2012), and honorary citizenship of Vrútky.
Bibliography
She has authored or co-authored more than 14 monographs and published over 250 scientific papers. Selected books include:
- Z ľudovej kultúry Turca (co-author, editor)
- Red Cross in Slovakia in the years 1919–1938
- Red Cross in Slovakia in the years 1939–1947
- Z turčianskej kuchyne
- Veľká kniha slovenských Vianoc
- Všetko okolo stola I. and II.
- Vianoce na Slovensku
- Tradície na Slovensku
- Príbeh vlákna
- Ako sme kedysi žili
