Ethnography and Ethnology in Anthropology- Anthropology Optional Paper 1

Syllabus Section: 2.2 the Nature of Society -(ANTHROPOLOGY OPTIONAL PAPER I)

Introduction

The concept of society and culture, and its various components like culture trait, culture complex, status, roles, association, community, group, etc. have been discussed above. You know that the central theme of social cultural anthropology is the study of society and culture. To understand society and culture in its comprehensive sense, anthropologists depended on simple societies. They studied the way of life of these societies and compared them with other societies to understand cultural similarities and cultural diversities. Most of the studies in anthropology earlier were categorised under ethnography and ethnology.

 

What is Ethnography?

Ethnography is a simple and holistic description of a particular culture, at a particular period of time. An ethnographer collects data through direct interaction with the people. The settlement pattern, dressing, food habits, economic activities, political organization, family, marriage, kinship, beliefs, practices, rituals, customs, etc. are studied in detail in\ ethnographic studies. Ethnographic studies had been a primary concern of Social Anthropology from its very beginning.

 

For an ethnographic study, two types of data are required, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data consists of data pertaining to population, male-female ratio, size of houses, number and size of different types of house hold equipment, quantity of crops produced, income, quantity of material used and so on. Qualitative data include data pertaining to beliefs, sentiments, knowledge, social network of family, marriage, kinship, religious beliefs, practices and life cycle rituals, etc. Data collection in ethnography is primarily based on field work. Ethnographic field work involves living in close contact with the people under study. As all aspects of culture are related, the ethnographer must study the whole of social life, in relationship to each other. In ethnographic research, the researcher usually selects small-scale societies.

 

What is Ethnology?

Ethnology is the comparative study of races and cultures. In Britain, Social Anthropology was earlier known as Ethnology. Ethnologists classify people on the basis of their distribution. It looks at people from an etic point of view. Ethnology can also be called as a historical study. It is different from ethnography. While ethnography requires primary data and close relationship with people, ethnology does not require direct interaction with the people. Ethnology can be based on different ethnographic studies. The important features of ethnology can be listed as below:

• Ethnology is narrative
• Ethnology is historical
• Ethnology is comparative
• It can be based on ethnographies.
• It need not be based on primary data.
• It studies cultures at different times and in different places.

 

Brief History of Ethnographic Studies in India 

Beginning of ethnographic studies can be traced back to the period of Herodotus in the 3rd century BC. Herodotus travelled to different places and met more than 50 different groups of people and described their culture. He was considered as the father of Greek Ethnographic studies.

 

The travelogues produced by the explorers including Marco Polo, Columbus, Vasco-de-Gama and others during the era of exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries brought out wonderful and exotic accounts of the people living in remote corners of the non-European regions of the world.

 

The Christian missionaries, in the process of their work of conversion carried out studies of different cultures of the people in different parts of the world. Scientific ethnographic studies were started during end of 19th century. E.B. Tylor started field work to understand the culture. He stayed one year in United States and six months among the Mexicans to collect first hand information. Though he was not a real field worker, he verified the data collected by his students to ensure the accuracy. L.H. Morgan of America published the book ‘League of Iroquois’ (1951) based on the field work among the Iroquois tribes of America. He interviewed many Iroquois people and collected data on their dance forms, religious beliefs, customs and traditions, language, material culture, form of government , family organisation etc. As he was ignorant of the native language, he utilised the help of an interpreter called Ely Parker throughout his study. Meanwhile, European administrators also tried to study the people of their colonies in their attempt to “civilise and rule” the colonies. 

 

In this context, the contribution of Edgar Thurston, ‘The Castes and Tribes of South India’ is worth mentioning. Many Anthropologists were appointed by the British, to study the native culture of their colonies. By the beginning of 20th century, W.H.R. Rivers, a British Social Anthropologist, came to India to Study the Toda tribe of Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu. His Monograph The Toda, was published in 1906. During 1906-1908, Radcliffe- Brown, the student of W.H.R. Rivers conducted field work among the tribes of Andaman Nicobar Island, and his

book ‘The Andaman Islanders’ was published in 1922. 

 

In 1912, ethnography on the tribe Munda, titled ‘Munda and Their Country’, was published by S.C.Roy. He was the first Indian Scholar who conducted an Ethnographic study of an Indian tribe. Hence, S.C. Roy was considered as the father of Indian Ethnography. However, significant change in the approach of Ethnographic study was brought in By Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski. He conducted three years of intensive field work (1914- 1918) among the tribes of Trobriand Island. He used the method of total Participant observation, and followed the native language throughout his study. It was a turning point in the field approach of Anthropology and hence, he was known as the father of field work tradition in Anthropology. His book, based on the field work among the Trobriand Islanders was published as ‘The Argonauts of Western Pacific ‘ in 1922. It made a new beginning in Ethnographic studies. Since then, following the method of Malinowski, a large number of ethnographic studies were published by different scholars throughout the world.

 

Brief Ethnography of the Toda (Case Study) 

The toda is a pastoral tribe who live in the Nilgiri hills of South India. The Todas live there with four other tribes namely Badaga, Kota, Kurumba and Irula. They are tall, fair, with long and narrow nose, long head with black wavy hair. The word Toda has been derived from the name ‘Tundra’ – the sacred tree of the Todas. Numerical strength of Toda population is very low and government has taken some important measures to protect them.

 

• Material culture: The Todas present a classic example of pastoral economy. They know neither hunting nor agriculture, and rear only buffaloes. They make various products like ghee, cheese, butter, curd from milk of buffaloes. These products are partially consumed by themselves and the rest is sold or exchanged with the neighbouring tribal communities.
• Division of labour: Each family is engaged in caring large number of buffaloes. The males of the house take the animals to the field regularly. In the morning the Females are not allowed to enter into the dairy house because of the taboo – Milk is indispensible in the socio-religious life of the tribe. Milking is done twice a day – early in the morning and in the evening. The buffaloes are of two types, some are regarded as the ordinary type and other are sacred. The ordinary buffaloes are maintained by an individual family a for ordinary use, whereas sacred buffaloes are kept in the special shed. Milk from the sacred buffaloes is offered to gods.
• Food: The Todas are purely vegetarians. Their favourite dish is rice, boiled in milk. They also prefer curd, churned milk and plain milk. They take vegetables and green leaves as their principal meals. Meat of the sacrificed buffaloes is considered as sacred, so they take this during annual festivals. Both males and females of the Toda community are addicted to liquor. The habit of smoking also prevails among both the sexes.
• Reciprocity: The markets of the Todas are actually the homes of the neighbouring people. Neighbouring communities like Badaga supply them agricultural products in exchange of milk, the Kotas supply the various utensils made of clay and iron and the Irula and Kurumba, the hunting gathering group bring different forest products like honey fruit, tubers, vegetables etc.
• Settlement: The Toda village consists of ten to twelve huts called ‘Mandu’. The huts are of two types. The first type is half-barrel in shape. A hut is divided into two portions, inside room and outside room. Inside room is used as a workshop where the females have no entry. The outside room is meant for living and other house hold work. The second type of hut is not barrel in shape. It is circular in shape and made of stone. This type of hut is used to keep the sacred buffaloes.

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• Dress: Todas are simple people. The males use a long strip of white loin cloth which has to be thrown over the shoulders, after covering the waist. This is their traditional dress. Sometimes they use colorful cloth for covering the upper part of their body. Women use long thick cloth covering almost the entire body. They keep long hair in plait. They use ornaments like ear- rings, nose-rings, nose pin etc. The Toda women are expert needle workers.
• Social Organisation: Todas are endogamous, marriage alliances occur exclusively within the tribe. The tribe is divided into two subdivisions called moiety – Tartharol and Teivaliol. Each of these two moieties are again endogamous. The members of Thartharol consider themselves superior to the Teivaliol.
• Family: Todas exhibit polyandrous type of family. A woman with her multiple husbands and children usually form this type of family. The husbands may or may not be brothers. Children are known after their ‘mother’.