Etnologia românească actuală: tradiții, teme, practici disciplinare

Abstract

Romanian Ethnology (named, at first, either Romanic Philology or Ethnopsychology) became an academic discipline at the end of the ninenteenth century, as part of Philology studies and in tune with European theories regarding comparative researches on folk (peasant) cultures as a means to identify origins, interrelations and evolution of peoples. As part of European Ethnology, Romanian Ethnology has evolved as a science engaged in the project of national construction and practising the discipline has always implied resisting political bias, especially during the communist period.

After 1989, Romanian ethnologists have freely explored the limits of their science, criticising tradition and practising interdisciplinary approaches that have induced a fruitful state of internal crisis, out of which a „new Ethnology” has emerged. Although rural tradition and national and multiethnic cultural heritage remain the most important topics of Romanian Ethnology, there are also a series of recent themes (work migration, exploring socialism and postsocialism, urban cultures and many others) that integrate research into international trends. As far as specific practices are concerned, Romanian Ethnology (or its most „fashionable“ equivalent, Sociocultural Anthropology, as I demonstrate
there is no substantial difference between ’Ethnology’ and ’Anthropologies’) is grounded in the research field which is explored by using qualitative methods.