Ethnohistory
Ethnohistory is the study of cultures and indigenous customs by examining historical records as well as other sources of information on their lives and history. It is also the study of the history of various ethnic groups that may or may not exist today.
Ethnohistory uses both historical and ethnographic data as its foundation. Its historical methods and materials go beyond the standard use of documents and manuscripts. Practitioners recognize the utility of such source material as maps, music, paintings, photography, folklore, oral tradition, site exploration, archaeological materials, museum collections, enduring customs, language, and place names.
Overview
As Michael Harkin argues, ethnohistory was part of the general rapprochement between history and anthropology in the late 20th century of mid-twentieth-century social science. In the U.S. the field arose out of the study of American Indian communities required by the Indian Claims Commission. It gained a pragmatic rather than a theoretical orientation, with practitioners testifying both in favor of and against Indian claims. The emerging methodology used documentary historical sources and ethnographic methods. It was a leader in involving women scholars. By the 1980s the field's geographic scope extended to Latin America, where archival resources and the opportunities for ethnographic research were plentiful. It also reached into Melanesia, where recent European contact allowed researchers to observe the early postcontact period directly and to address important theoretical questions.
