The theme of the treatise on ethnology between ‘narodopisje’ and anthropology is a general disciplinary question – it deals its theoretical and methodological issues and, at the same time, presents through it a specific chapter of the history of ethnology in Slovenia in the last century. It was originally supposed to be devoted to the question of theory and methodology in the last fifty years, during the time of its full institutionalization. Since the material, or texts, from this period constantly refer to previous scholarly ideas, the focus was widened to earlier disciplinary views and its research.

The history of any scholarly tradition is an important part of any national social and cultural history, but the ambitions of the ideas put forward here are more modest: it is not intended to be an exhaustive analysis of the place of ethnology and its insights into the wider social and spiritual context. The discussion is limited to those disciplinary elements, which are fruit of its own reflection and critical insights. It is possible thus to highlight the origins, the formation and changes of research patterns which are part of a wider scientific, conceptual and general historical context.