Institute for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis
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Profile of Subject and Institute

European Ethnology is an empirical branch of the humanities concerned with examining and analyzing the historical and contemporary cultural phenomena of European societies. The key concept “culture” represents a system of social behavior and order that is, however, not rigidly defined, but should be understood as a form of social and symbolic practice, a framework for the continual process in which people develop the rules required for the organization of their daily and communal life.

As a discipline, European Ethnology is a typical product of the modern age. With origins going back to 18th century Cameralism, it started to become an established subject in the late 19th century, as a reaction to the turbulent transformation processes in industrial societies that led to the development of a specific interest in observing and conserving the culture of “ordinary people”, which was just then dwindling away. What has remained is an interest in the everyday culture of a wide range of social classes and groups and their ways of life as well as in the processes of change continually taking place in European societies. In the course of time, this spectrum was expanded to include, among other things, a comparative study of European societies – with an increasing focus on global integration. What deserves special attention in this respect is everyday culture – from the perspective of people who are regarded as active participants; it is studied by means of specific procedures of cultural analysis. Studies of this kind include analysis of political, economic, medial, and academic fields as well as social inequalities and power relationships – and always refer to the people participating in these fields.

Depending on the field of research, the physical conditions, and time frame, as well as the type of subject concerned, European Ethnology uses various methods of empirical and historical research: e.g. stationary, multi-sited and/or accompanying field research; (participant) observation, qualitative interviews (theme-orientated, autobiographical etc.), source studies and analyses, content analyses, photography and video, mental maps, card files etc. In analyzing these kinds of data and using cultural theory to think them through, European Ethnology develops reflexive, critical perspectives on societal phenomena. The discipline contributes to interdisciplinary debates, for example, within urban and gender studies.

While the institute in Munich bears the name “European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis”, the discipline has many different names in German(y). This is due to reorientations of the discipline “Volkskunde” since the 1960s.
The Institute for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis at LMU Munich offers the complete range of academic subjects in European Ethnology, extending from the analysis of cultural phenomena on our doorstep to the investigation of cultural phenomena in other European societies, and including the processes of Europeanization, transnationalization, and migration, as well as cultural comparison and transfer. The time span extends from the Early Modern Period to the present, with the primary focus being on the period from the 19th to the 21st century. The subject of European Ethnology is therefore also concerned with historical anthropology, with special attention given to the social history of regional cultures. Further, all analyses have a historical dimension and awareness within European Ethnology.

In Munich the main research emphasis is on the following areas/fields (see especially, “Research Projects”):

  • Europeanization
  • Urban Society/Culture
  • Industrial and Work Cultures
  • Eastern Europe
  • Memory Studies
  • Anthropology of Ageing
  • Pop and Youth Culture
  • Digitalization
  • Migration
  • Transnationalization
  • Regional and Cultural Phenomena of the Alpine Countries
  • Gender
  • Nationalism/National Identity Constructs
  • Family and Kinship
  • History of Anthropological Thought