Ethnology in France, Ethnology of France. New Fields, New Approaches
This article reviews trends in the ethnological studies concerning French society since the World War II. The author notes an emphasis on subjective elements : namely social representations, emotions, while at the same time ethnologists analyse their role as fieldworkers and question the uncertainty of conducting an anthropological research of familiar grounds. Today the ethnology of France apprehends groups, areas, behaviours, of an intermediate character, beyond oppositions between major categories of things. Ethnology has penetrated the urban space, the political and juridical fields and varied types of micro-cultural facts. Counterbalancing the appeal of studies of representations and affects a new interest arises concerning symbolic, and especially ritual, actions. Facts are approached in a historical perspective and in the context of contemporary changes, in relation to the development of cultural history in France.