From Ethnography to Anthropology In Armenia

Ethnography as a discipline was formed in Armenia at the end of the 19th century in approximately the same way as elsewhere in Europe, with the difference that here it did not go through the stage of colonial ethnography (there was only Volkskunde without Völkerkunde), if you do not take attempts to describe Armenian rural life as an example of self-exotization.

The name of the discipline – ‘azgagrut‘yun’ is a calque from the Russian ‘ethnography’. After the independence of Armenia in 1991, the attitude and public demand for ethnography changed. They created the ground for the emergence of a new research lens, when focus on traditions moved towards practices and from preserving the cultural heritage towards adaptive capabilities and development trends. And in the broad sense from the group to the individual – from ethnography to anthropology.

About the speaker

Gayane Shagoyan is a senior researcher at the
Department of Contemporary Anthropological Studies of
the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia. She received her PhD
in anthropology from the Institute of Archaeology and
Ethnography in 2010. The areas of her research interests
include daily life, urban anthropology, and memory
studies. She is the author of about 90 publications.