5. Notes from His “Snail’s Shell”: Shirokogoroff’s Fieldwork and the Groundwork for Etnos Thinking

Abstract

The idea of etnos came into being over a hundred years ago as a way of understanding the collec� ve iden� � es of people with a common language and shared tradi� ons. In the twen� eth century, the concept came to be associated with Soviet state-building, and it fell sharply out of favour. Yet outside the academy, etnos-style arguments not only persist, but are a vibrant part of regional anthropological tradi� ons.