Abstract
The article examines the emergence of Belarusian ethnology as a scholarly discipline and identifies the main stages of its development. The periodization is based on the theoretical foundations of ethnological research. The key features of each period include its methodological framework and research approaches. The author analyzes in detail the contribution of Belarusian ethnologists of the second half of the 19th century and early 21st century to the ethnological study of Belarus, and focuses on the study of suchissues as ethnogenesis and the ethnic history of Belarusians (E.F. Karskiy, M.Ya. Grinblat, M.F. Pilipenko, I.V. Chakvin, etc.), confessional history (A.Vl. Gurko, A.Vik. Gurko), material culture (N.Ya. Nikiforovskiy, I.A. Serbov, L.A. Molchanova, A.I. Lokotko, etc.), spiritual culture (P.M. Shpilevskiy, P.V. Sheyn, L.I. Min'ko, V.N. Belyavina, etc.), social culture (A.E. Bogdanovich, A.K. Serzhputovskiy, T.I. Kukharonok, I.I. Kalacheva, etc.), and ethnic groups (E.N. Kvilinkova, G.I. Kasperovich, Yu.I. Vnukovich, V.I., etc.). A multitude of works are based on materials collected by ethnographers during field expeditions. The role of academic institutions in the development of ethnological research is highlighted: the Department of Ethnology of the Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences; the Department of Ethnology, Museology and History of Arts of the Belarusian State University. The author concludes that Belarusian ethnology has gone a long way in its development and has now reached a new scientific level: the methodological base has been significantly improved, scholars increasingly implement modern research methods, the range of topics has been expanded, and new fundamental works on the pressing issues of contemporary Belarusian ethnology have appeared.