Cultural anthropology and ethnographic methods in archival science

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show possibilities of conducting research in archival science using ethnographic methods, quality methods that allow to recognise connections between humans and a process they got set into, using all relations between members of the group studied, people and the system, records and information, in the context of creating and managing records (including archival materials). The article consists of two parts. The first part presents chosen research using ethnographic methods in archival science, that were published in English literature. The second part is a summary and assessment of the Polish archival literary output, that is part of a trend called anthropological orientation in archival science (or archivosophy), and also presentation of few Polish studies using ethnographic methods in archival science.

Keywords

• antropologizowanie archiwistyki, archiwozofia, metody etnograficzne, obserwacja uczestnicząca, egodokumentalność