ETHNOLOGY
Welcome to the Northwest International University Ethnological Department . We are inviting a diverse community of scholars at all career stages to share a deep commitment to the advancement of cultural anthropology by generating rich ethnography and relevant, innovative theory.
Ethnology is the study of humans as cultural beings. It explores how cultural patterns are constructed, preserved, and changed in various times, places, and social contexts. Peoples’ cultural behaviors and expressions are examined through both contemporary analysis and historical reconstruction. Qualitative methods dominate and the empirical material is derived from various sources, such as archives, interviews, observations, questionnaires, artifacts, print and nonprint media, or the Internet.
The term “ethnology” derives from the Greek ἔθνος (ethnos) meaning people. As defined in various ways, the subject has developed along separate paths of inquiry and pedagogical principles (i.e., social and cultural anthropology and folkloristics). Ethnology (or folklife research) has been considered an academic field since the late eighteenth century,
Among the goals of ethnology have been the reconstruction of human history, and the formulation of cultural invariants, such as the incest taboo and culture change, and the formulation of generalizations about “human nature”, a concept which has been criticized since the 19th century by various philosophers
Topics of particular interest include religious beliefs, linguistic practices, kinship arrangements, marriage patterns, farming technology, dietary practices, gender relations, and power relations. Cultural anthropology is generally conceived as an empirical science, and this raises several methodological and conceptual difficulties. First is the problem of the role of the observer. The injection of an alien observer into the local culture unavoidably disturbs the latter.
Second, there is the problem of intelligibility across cultural systems (radical translation). One goal of ethnographic research is to arrive at an interpretation of a set of beliefs and values that are thought to be radically different from the researcher’s own beliefs and values; but if this is so, then it is questionable whether they can be accurately translated into the researcher’s conceptual scheme.
Third, there is the problem of empirical testing of ethnographic interpretations. To what extent do empirical procedures constrain the construction of an interpretation of a given cultural milieu? Finally, there is the problem of generalizability. To what extent does fieldwork in one location permit anthropologists to generalize to a larger context–other villages in the region, the dispersed ethnic group represented by this village, or this village at other points in time?
Northwest International University, in cooperation with research institutes, scientific associations, schools, colleges and universities of other countries, especially in the United States of America, has included study and specialized ethnology courses in its program and has provided a platform where students can complete their education and the necessary requirements to obtain higher education degrees up to the doctorate level
Please join us! . We would like nothing better than for you to find your intellectual home in anthropology amidst the remarkable researchers, writers, artists, and teachers of the AES community.
