The people living on the planet differ from each other in life, customs, material and spiritual culture. These and many other features are studied by the science called ethnography. In the western countries the term "ethnology" which in Russia did not take root enjoys bigger popularity.
Instruction
1. The term "ethnography" has the Greek roots. It comes from a noun of ethnos ("people") and the verb grapho ("to describe, write"). Researchers put double sense in this name. In ordinary understanding mean the description of origin of the different people, their life, features of cultural life by ethnography. The same name is used for designation of special scientific discipline.
2. Being independent science, the ethnography studies various spheres of life of the people inhabiting the planet, opens features of social and cultural processes. As components the ethnography includes physical anthropology, ethnic history, ethnosociology and ethnopsychology. The ethnography receives a number of data from demographic researches.
3. The ethnography began with collecting and systematization of the facts. The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus stood at the origins of this science. He left behind numerous descriptions of the tribes and the people which were living in close proximity to Greece and having with it cultural and economic relations. The contribution to development of ethnography was made also by Thucydides, Hippocrates and Democritus. In those far times certificates of travelers and personal observations of chroniclers behind life of different tribes were a source of knowledge of the people.
4. The science ethnography has the sources. First of all material objects, for example, use objects, clothes, jewelry belong to them. Valuable data on life of the people can be received when studying folklore – bylinas, legends, fairy tales, songs. The developed cultures leave behind written sources in which various aspects of life of the people are reflected.
5. Scientists most often conduct modern ethnographic researches, organizing exit expeditions to the country interesting them. At the same time photo and video filming, audio recordings are widely used. Use of technical means allows to set features of life and material culture of nationalities on material carriers for the subsequent in-depth study.
6. One of ways to present to society results of researches in the field of ethnography is the organization of the ethnographic museums. The unique objects of material culture which are carefully kept by representatives of any given nationality and were a part of a museum exposition speak about customs, life and culture often better, than detailed articles in scientific magazines or in thick volumes of encyclopedias.