ethnologist

An ethnologist is a scholar who studies cultures and the social structures of human groups. Ethnology emphasizes cross-cultural comparison and the theoretical interpretation of cultural variation, drawing on ethnographies collected through fieldwork. By contrast, ethnography refers to the in-depth, descriptive study of a single community or society, typically conducted by one researcher or a small team over an extended period.

Historically, ethnology developed within anthropology in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Pioneers such as Franz Boas promoted rigorous fieldwork, cultural relativism, and comparative methods. Bronisław Malinowski advanced participant observation as a core field method. Later scholars, including Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Claude Lévi-Strauss, contributed influential theories and frameworks that shaped the discipline.

Methods commonly used by ethnologists include participant observation, interviews, genealogical and kinship analysis, examination of material culture, linguistic data, and archival research. They frequently work in universities, museums, and cultural institutions, conducting field studies, producing scholarly publications, and informing policy, education, and heritage programs.

Ethical considerations are central to ethnology, emphasizing informed consent, respectful engagement with communities, benefit-sharing, and avoidance of harm. In contemporary practice, ethnologists may collaborate with communities to document languages, traditions, and social practices, or to analyze globalization and social change. The term ethnologist is sometimes used interchangeably with anthropologist, especially in historical literature, though modern usage often reserves ethnology for the comparative, theory-driven component of the field.