The Etnographic writings and Geography: convergences and divergences

Abstract

Fieldwork and map elaboration have been the geographer's instruments since the origin of this science. Ethnographic writings are present in the works of German geographers and in the French Geography as well. As it happened in the “Classical Anthropology" the ethnographic description was present mainly in works which dealt with the “exotic of faraway lands" This practice was abandoned when Geography "broke off" with the so called traditional school. As a consequence, discussions about ethnographic writings and the methodology of fieldwork were left aside or, even, there was an indifference towards their realization. This article intends to start a dialogue with Anthropology by trying to show the importance of ethnographic descriptions for Geographical fieldworks without abandoning the interpretations which Geertz calls attention to

Keywords

• ethnography fieldwork methodology geographical thought description