Ethnography
[eth-NAH-ɡrə-fee]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: French, early 19th century
1.
The scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.
Examples of Ethnography in a sentence
"The required reading touched on the ethnography of the country, not just the history."
"You can be a tourist, but you can also immerse yourself in a culture’s ethnography."
About Ethnography
The things you eat, the holidays you observe, the style in which you dress, the habits you perform — all are part of ethnography. Ethnography is some sort of scientific or written documentation of a way of life, either of an individual or a culture. A hundred years from now, the discovery of your Netflix queue might be a piece of your ethnography.
Did you Know?
You might be more familiar with ethnography’s close cousin, anthropology. Anthropology is the study of humans as a whole, but specific societies might be examined individually. Ethnography is concerned with how humans live and experience life, usually one culture at a time.
