Abstract
This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.
This opening essay of the then newly founded journal Ethnologia Europaea surveys the heterogeneous disciplinary landscape of the field which constitutes its target audience. Situating the field within anthropology, it argues for tolerance of the various kinds of ethnology being pursued in different institutions in Europe, from universities to museums, in order to be able to join forces. All are engaged in folklife research (folklife being equivalent to social life), whose task is to elucidate culture and its role in life as well as the influence of life on the development of culture. The article closes with remarks on method. [Abstract and keywords added by the editors 2017]Keywords
disciplinary history, European ethnology, folklife research, anthropology