ethnography

From ethno- +‎ -graphy.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɛθˈnɑɡɹəfi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛθˈnɒɡɹəfi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɡɹəfi
• Hyphenation: eth‧nog‧ra‧phy

ethnography (countable and uncountable, plural ethnographies)

1. (anthropology) The branch of anthropology that scientifically describes specific human cultures and societies.

   Synonym: descriptive anthropology

   Holonym: anthropology

   Coordinate term: ethnology

   • 1997, Jacob W. Gruber, “American Philosophical Society”, in History of Physical Anthropology, page 64:

     By the end of the century, the APS’s membership included the leaders of the American anthropological establishment, whose primary investigative interests were the ethnography, linguistics, archeology, and physical anthropology of the American Indian, within a theoretical structure that was essentially historical.

2. An ethnographic work.
   • 1997, Robin M. Chandler, “The New Movement of the Center: A Theoretical Model for Future Analysis in Art Worlds”, in Pheobe Farris-Dufrene, editor, Voices of Color: Art and Society in the Americas, Humanities Press, →ISBN, page 41:

     As intellectuals read the written text, compile ethnographies, tour the non-Western terrain, and make art out of the charred remnants of these quests, we always run the risk of fortifying the old culture with neomythologies that continue to invade the private space of others.

• ethnography on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “ethnography”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “ethnography”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.