An Introduction to Ethnography.

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Ethnography (The term ethnic has Greek origin – ethnicus and ethnikas both meaning nation; “grapho” – “describe” ) is one of the historical fields. As a written product, an ethnography is a richly descriptive account of the social life and culture of the group studied. Ethnography has its roots planted in the fields of anthropology and sociology. Present-day practitioners conduct ethnographies in organizations and communities of all kinds. Ethnographers study schooling, public health, rural and urban development, consumers and consumer goods, any human arena. The scientists who work in this field named as “ethnologists” or “anthropologist”, who work with living people to explore and document their culture. I wanna add there, the disappeared nations also included its research area. This term came to the scientific literature in the second half of the XIX century. The description of other ways of life is an activity with roots in ancient times. Herodotus, the Greek traveler and historian of the 5th century BC, wrote of some 50 different peoples he encountered or heard of, remarking on their laws, social customs, religion, and appearance. Ethnography was developed by anthropologists, most famously, by Malinowki in the early 20th century.

Ethnography is a one of research method that can be done in both Anthropology and Sociology, it provides a description and understanding of a specific aspect of the individual or society being studied. Ethnography is a methodological framework that is often associated with the field of anthropology. Anthropology uses ethnography extensively, so much so that some view them as inseparable. Anthropology is the study of humans and human behavior and societies in the past and present. The field of anthropology originated from Europe and England designed in late 19th century. It spread its roots to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.

The central aim of ethnography is to provide rich, holistic insights into people’s views, as well as the nature of the location they inhabit, through the collection of detailed observations and interviews. Today there have some issues in the front of the ethnology should research: the ethnic identities of peoples, the ethnic history and ethnogenesis of the nations, the non-classified society and etc. Each nation is unique, and has its own individual household. In addition, ethnology is not only studying the differences among the various nations, but also it is studying the similarities among them.

Anthropological research, as practiced in the early to middle twentieth century, usually involved an Anglo-American or European working in a small isolated community in a remote area of the world, with a group of people who often lived without modern amenities, had little or no formal education, and existed at a modest if not impoverished economic level. The anthropologist took up residence in the community, and set out to learn who the people in the community were and how they lived. Depending on their interests, anthropologists investigated topics as diverse as economic and household tasks, social organization and religious beliefs, family life and local markets—virtually anything that made up daily life. Since they also lived in the community, anthropologists visited with people, attended communal events, and worked together with community members on common projects, including the ethnography itself.

The object of the main learned the science of Ethnography is ethnos. As you know ethnos means nation. For the formation of an ethnic community each ethnic groups need certain indications. The basis for the formation of a nation – common language, common ethnic, territorial, domestic and commonality of culture and origin community.

It is impossible to substantiate ethnic and cultural identities without the aspects of historical processes and external relations.

In the modern world, the most important group identity is country citizenship. This identity is associated with legal rights and responsibilities under the constitution of the country. In the very complicated process of nation-building in each country, many factors affect the final formation and geographic-population coverage of each nation. This is why there are many human groups who are transnational.