What is ethnography and what are its main principles

Different experts give different interpretations of the concept of "ethnography." Some call it science or scientific discipline, others put into it a non-scientific meaning. So all the same, what is ethnography? When did this term arise and how does it differ from "ethnology"? In Greek, the meaning of the word "ethnography" is "description of peoples". If you make a complete definition, then this includes a description of the origin, the settlement of peoples, its composition, its way of life and customs, material and spiritual culture. The totality of these factors is ethnography. The same is called the science that studies the above characteristics.

Ethnography as a science covers many spheres of life and social processes, perhaps, therefore, the question of what ethnography is, is still relevant. It includes such areas as paleoethnography, demography, ethnic history, ethnopsychology and ethnosociology, physical anthropology and many other disciplines.

"Father" of ethnography can safely be considered Herodotus, who left for descendants numerous valuable unique descriptions of neighboring peoples and tribes. After him you can call the ancient Greek scholars Thucydides, Democritus, Hippocrates and some ancient Egyptian chroniclers. Of course, then none of them thought about what ethnography is, the term itself appeared only in the last century.

The sources of ethnography are information obtained through direct communication with the described population, observation over a certain period of time for their life, traditions, culture. These can be field trips or stationary living in the environment of the observed people. Ethnographic sources are divided into several types:

1) material or material (clothing, household items, food, money, jewelry and other property);

2) written (any kind of records, diaries, recipes, recorded legends and epics, etc.);

3) folklore (songs, chastushki, oral epics and legends, and it is important not only their very fulfillment, but also the conditions in which it occurs);

4) linguistic (which language branch they belong to, what dialects are available, pronunciation, etc.).

In addition to these four types of sources, physic-anthropological (skull structure, external characteristics) and audiovisual sources (photo, video, audio materials) can also be distinguished, although the latter are already a secondary source.

The country richest in ethnography is, of course, Russia. More than 150 peoples live on its territory, but many of them also divide themselves into ethnic groups. Ethnography of Russia was formed as an independent science by the end of the XIX century. Many Russian ethnographers became world-famous - LN Gumilyov, V. Ya. Propp, NN Miklukho-Maklai, SA Tokarev and others. In Russia, the question of what ethnography is, also took place, but the meaning was slightly different. The fact is that at this time in the West European countries the term "ethnology" was used, which in Russia did not take root. Only since the 1990s, Russian scientists began to use both these concepts, sometimes as synonyms, and sometimes with slight differences.