«ԱԶԳ»-Ի ԳԻՏԱԿԱՆ ՈՒՍՈՒՄՆԱՍԻՐՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԲԱՆԱՁԵՎԵՐԸ «ԱԶԳԱԳՐԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՆԴԵՍ»-ՈՒՄ (ԱՌԱՋԻՆ ՀԱՄԱՐԻ «ՀՐԱՏԱՐԱԿՉԻՑ» ԲԱԺՆԻ ՔՆՆՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ) / THE FORMULAS FOR RESEARCHING CONCEPT OF “NATION” IN THE “JOURNAL OF ETHNOGRAPHY”

Abstract

"Ethnographic Journal" founded in 1896 plays an important role not only in terms of recording, description and analysis of ethnographic materials, but also for the establishment and further development of ethnography in Armenia. Publisher of the journal Yervand Lalayan had formulated the state of the study of Armenian ethnography, identify the problems of national culture in a two-page introductory article entitled "From the Publisher" of the first issue of the journal. Y. Lalayan was not just identifying, recording the problems, but also suggesting solutions as we can follow in the discussed document. His suggestions were well diversified, such as education, linguistics, folklore and other fields where ethnographic materials should be incorporated to achieve better results. European education and familiarity with Armenian reality gave Y. Lalayan the opportunity to predict the main directions of the development of science, to outline new research themes. And indeed, not only Armenian ethnography, but anthropology in general developed through the creation of new disciplines and the active development of interdisciplinary research since the beginning of 20th century. And finally, in order to ensure the theoretical - methodological principles, Y. Lalayan announced about willingness to translate anthropological articles and publish them in the "Ethnographic Journal." Considering all these, the two pages introduction of the journal could be described as one of the important documents of Armenian ethnography, a unique program-guide for the research of the concepts of "nation" and "national culture."