ethnological
Studying human societies
Ethnological means relating to ethnology—the comparative study of human cultures, their customs, beliefs, and social structures.
The term appears in academic contexts discussing how different peoples organize their societies: The museum's ethnological collection documents Indigenous practices across three continents.
Ethnological research emphasizes systematic comparison across cultural groups rather than study of a single society.
Related group sharing ancestry
- tribeSocial group sharing ancestry
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- descentDownward slope or lineage
- moietyOne of two parts
exogamy · endogamy · matrilineal · patrilineal · bilateral · consanguinity · affinity · totemism
Formal observances with ritual
- rites-of-passageCeremonies marking life transitions
- shamanismMediation between worlds
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
- sacredWorthy of reverence
profane · liminality · initiation · funerary · sacrifice · divination · trance · cosmology
Research conducted on location
- cross-culturalInvolving multiple societies
- kinshipState of being related
- ethnomusicologyMusic studied culturally
- ethnobotanyScience of human-plant relationships
Coexistence of differing views
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
- migrationMovement to new territory
- acculturationAdopting another group's customs
- assimilationAbsorbing into a whole
syncretism · hybridity · multiculturalism · creolization · transnationalism
Indigenous to a place
- autochthonousOriginating where found
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
- ethnocideDeliberate identity erasure
revitalization · sovereignty · self-determination · repatriation · oral-history · elders
clan
Related group sharing ancestry
moiety · exogamy · endogamy · matrilineal · patrilineal · bilateral · consanguinity · affinity · totemism · genealogy
ceremonies
Formal observances with ritual
- rites-of-passageCeremonies marking life transitions
- shamanismMediation between worlds
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
sacred · profane · liminality · initiation · funerary · sacrifice · divination · trance · cosmology · animism
fieldwork
Research conducted on location
- cross-culturalInvolving multiple societies
- kinshipState of being related
- ethnomusicologyMusic studied culturally
ethnobotany · informant · monograph · functionalism · structuralism
pluralism
Coexistence of differing views
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
- migrationMovement to new territory
- acculturationAdopting another group's customs
assimilation · syncretism · hybridity · multiculturalism · creolization · transnationalism
aboriginal
Indigenous to a place
- autochthonousOriginating where found
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
ethnocide · revitalization · sovereignty · self-determination · repatriation · oral-history · elders
ethnologicalbiological
Relating to living organisms
geological · physical · physiological · botanical · zoological
ethnic, ethnicity, ethnography, multiethnic, ethnology, ethnocentric, ethnicities, ethnocentrism, ethnologist