Agata A. Konczal

Scholar with PhD in social and cultural anthropology (2017). In her research, she explores how the social worlds of people are connected to the natural landscapes of forests. Her specialisation lies in environmental anthropology, political ecology, environmental history and in particular in forest anthropology. She grew up in the Tuchola Forest, Northern Poland. After 5 years in Bonn, currently based in Düsseldorf in the Niederrhein region. Her heart is always among the Scots Pines of the Tuchola Forest.Together with Dr. Jodie Asselin from the University of Lethbridge (Canada), Agata established and lead "Forest Anthropology Working Group on Europe and Beyond" (FORAGE)

• Email
• LinkedIn
• ResearchGate
• Google Scholar

Work experience

Selected publications

Books2017 Forest anthropology. Foresters – perception and formation of visions of nature in Poland (in Polish). Warsaw-Poznan: Polish Academy of Science Press, Adam Mickiewicz University Press.Books in preparation
2026 An anthropology of political forests. Edited Volume. Manchester: Manchester University Press. A. Konczal & J. Asselin.
2027 Forest Anthropology in Socialist and Post-Socialist Poland. Budapest: Central European University Press. A. Konczal (as a part of the series: “Anthropologies of Eurasia: Ethnographic Encounters of Social Change”).Articles
2025 Exploring the Green Frontier within Europe’s Recent Forest Initiatives. Geoforum. 104242 A. Konczal, J. Asselin.2025 Forest restoration paradigms and conflicts in Europe. International Forest Review. Vol. 27, Issue 1, p. 1-15. L. O’Brien, A. Konczal, A. Begemann, M. Lovrić, N. Lovrić, S. Fleckenstein, G. Winkel.2025 Hands off our forests!” - The impact of the authoritarian rule on Polish forest policy in the context of the European Green Deal. Forest Policy and Economics. Vol. 171. K. Niedziałkowski, A. Konczal, M. Mielewczyk.2024 Addressing multiple perspectives in studying environmental changes in forest landscapes during the modernization period (18th–19th centuries). The Anthropocene Review, 11(2), T. Zwiazek, D. Łuców, J. Popek, M. Klisz, M. Obremska, Ł. Sobechowicz, J. Solon, M. Słowiński, P. Przybylski, Ł. Tyburski, E. Zin, Sz. Jastrzębowski, E. Płaczkowska, K. Pilch, K. Szewczyk, A. Konczal, P. Rutkowski, D. Główka, P. Swoboda2024 The priorities in managing forest disturbances to enhance forest resilience: a comparison of a literature analysis and perceptions of forest professionals. Forest Policy and Economics, Volume 158, January 2024, 103119, L. Nikinmaa, J, H. C. de Koning, J. Derks, E. Grabska-Szwagrzyk, A. Konczal, M. Lindner, J. Socha, B. Muys.2023 Who and with whom is (not) speaking about forest. Autoportrait 1(80) (In Polish)2023 Integrating nature conservation measures in European forest management – An exploratory study of barriers and drivers in 9 European countries. Journal of Environmental Management 325 (2023): 116619. Konczal, A. A., Derks, J., de Koning, J. H., & Winkel, G.2022 Restoring the Forest-Restoring the State: An Essay on Forestation. Comparasions 31(1), 39-62.2022 Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests. Ecology and Society, 27(4), Roux, J. L., Konczal, A., Bernasconi, A., Bhagwat, S., De Vreese, R., Doimo, I., ... & Winkel, G. .2020 Why can a forest not be private? A post-socialist perspective on Polish forestry paradigms – anthropological contribution. Forest Policy and Economics, 117, 1022062020 Can nature conservation and wood production be reconciled in managed forests? A review of driving factors for integrated forest management in Europe, Journal of Environmental Management 268, F. Aggestam, A. Konczal, G. Winkel, M. Sotirov, I. Wallin, Y. Paillet, R. Spinelli, M. Lindner, J. Derks, M. Hanewinkel, p. 1-9.2020 Between biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest use – a multidisciplinary assessment of the emblematic Białowieża Forest case, Biological Conservation 248, M. Blicharska, P. Angelstam, L. Giessen, J. Hilszczański, E. Hermanowicz, J. Holeksa, J.B. Jacobsen, B. Jaroszewicz, A. Konczal, A. Konieczny, G. Mikusinski, Z. Mirek, G. J. M. Mohren, B. Muys, K. Niedzialkowski, M. Sotirov, K. Stereńczak, J. Szwagrzyk, G. Winder, Z. Witkowski, R. Zapłata, G. Winkel, p. 1-15.2018 Trees that must remember. Time of Culture. 33(03), 22-27.2013 The cultural and social meaning of the forest. Research with using tools of the space anthropology. “Ethnographic Works. Scientific Papers of Jagiellonian University” Vol. 41(3), p. 189-2013.Book chapters2024 Forest flickers of history. Early modern woodland restoration and how it shapes postmodern options. In: eds. P. Katila, C.J. Pierce Colfer, W. de Jong, G. Galloway, P. Pacheco, G. Winkel. Restoring forests and trees for sustainable development - Policies, practices, impacts and ways forward. London: Oxford University Press, p. 23-46. W. de Jong, T. Takahashi, G. Winkel, A. Konczal, N. Anderson, A. Wardell.2019 A forest with an (in)certain future. An essay on forest vitality and forest disasters (in Polish). in: eds. P. Czaplinski, J. Bednarek, D. Gostynski. O jeden las za daleko. Demokracja, kapitalizm i nieposłuszeństwo ekologiczne w Polsce (A Forest too far. Democracy, capitalism, and Ecological Disobidience in Poland.) Warsaw: Książka i Prasa Le Monde Diplomatique, p. 93-102.2018 Bark beetles and ultra-right nationalist outbreaks: Bialowieza, Poland in: eds. S. Brain and V. Pál. Environmental Politics and Policy under Authoritarian Regimes: Myth and Reality. London: Routledge Press, E. Blavascunas and A. Konczal p. 96-122.2017 Telling (hi)stories in the Anthropocene. When forest is multispecies relation. in: eds. E. Kavalski, S. Hobden, E. Cudworth. Posthuman Dialogues in International Relations. London: Routledge, p. 53-67.2016 The small sacred architecture of Tuchola Forest and the determinants of the forest space. in: ed. K. Marciniak. The small sacred architecture of Kashubia. An Anthropological Perspective. Gdansk: National Museum in Gdansk, p. 232-251.

Speaking

"Forest Encounters" Symposium 1.12.2023Radio TokFM 25.04.2023 (in Polish)"On the Green Fence" Deutsche Welle podcast (22.07.2022)Seminar ZAND: Agata A. Konczal "Forests (of) uncertain future" 20.01.2021 (in Polish)Speakers' Corner - Agata Konczal and Robert Zydel "Good Climate" 18.06.2021 (in Polish)Radio TokFM 8.10.2021 (in Polish)Pracownia na rzecz Wszystkich Istot "Where, which and whose forest? A forest anthropology perspective" 13.01.2022 (in Polish)Debate on Polish Forests 6.04.2022 (in Polish)