etnologi

Ethnology, or etnologi in some languages, is the branch of anthropology that studies cultures in a comparative and cross-cultural framework. It seeks to understand how different human groups organize social life, beliefs, kinship, economic practices, technologies, and symbolic systems, and how these elements interrelate across societies.

Ethnology differs from ethnography, which describes and documents the customs of a particular people or culture through fieldwork. Ethnologists synthesize ethnographic data from multiple societies to identify patterns, test theories about cultural change, and develop generalizations about human behavior.

Historically, ethnology emerged in the 19th century as European scholars collected and compared information about distant cultures. Early work by thinkers such as Edward Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan shaped comparative approaches, while 20th-century figures like Franz Boas emphasized fieldwork, cultural relativism, and the contextual nature of culture.

Today ethnology remains closely linked to cultural anthropology and often operates in university departments, research institutes, and international collaborations. Contemporary studies address globalization, migration, identity, and power relations, using diverse methods—ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, and cross-cultural databases—while emphasizing ethical considerations and reflexivity.