Etnologiska framtider

Abstract

The Futures of Ethnology. Editorial

This issue of RIG has its starting point in a colloquium in Stockholm, held in October 2008 concerning the futures of ethnology. The participants discussed several problems and opportunities. One problem is fewer and fewer applications to basic education, another one the question of employability. Ethnologists are well suited for different jobs, but they have difficulties in communicating that. On the other hand, ethnologists are successful fundraisers. Their research is useful and well connected to important societal questions. The discussions on ethnology are part of a wider discussion concerning humanities and social sciences and the question of freedom and pragmatism. On the one hand science is strongly dependent on demands expressed outside the academy. On the other hand these demands are to a high degree expressed by scientists themselves. In this sense science is rather autonomous.