ტერმინ ეთნოგრაფიული ჯგუფის გაგებისათვის

ანოტაცია

The institutional development (establishment of the Museum of the Caucasus, University, later on the Institute of Language, History, and Material Culture, etc.) of ethnology in Georgia put into the agenda the creation of the appropriate terminological system. The founder of the Georgian ethnological school Giorgi Chitaia was educated in Europe and was well acquainted with the contemporary for that time trends and terminology in the field. In 1926 he wrote the program article, explaining the term ethnology and the aims of the discipline. He, together with his pupils, has elaborated relevant Georgian ethnological terminology. The natural development was interrupted after the Sovietization of the country. This fact, together with the ideological pressure, caused the specific way of standardization of the terminology.

In the article, the author discusses some issues regarding the usage of ethnic concepts in the Soviet and contemporary Georgian academic space. As the Georgian terminology was elaborated at the beginning of the 20th century within the Soviet space, some terms turned out not to be relevant for the research and teaching nowadays. There has been created the generational gap between the national and international scholarly spaces. The concept discussed in the article is “ethnographic group”, which was used by the Soviet ethnographers with slightly different meanings. Despite the fact that active discussion of the validity of ethnic terms in Georgian ethnography began in the 1970s, the process is not finished yet. The term ethnographic group, described by Georgian ethnologists in Western literature, corresponds to the local-territorial unity of the ethnic group. These differences in the use of ethnic terms are often the reason for misunderstandings in Western scientific circles. At the same time, it should be noted that the area of use of ethnic terms is extended beyond the academic space. The ethnic terms are used in public discourse, in the formation of political interests, and in the discussion on identity issues. Ethnic terms are related to human rights. These issues are especially problematic in dealing with international organizations, as they can lead to political misunderstandings.