An Introduction to Discussion about Ethnological Cartography: An Incentive for the Research on the Example of Annual Bonfires

Autorica nas uvodi u raspravu o etnološkoj kartografiji, koja polazi od rezultata istraživanja o temi paljenja godišnjih vatri u pripadnika dviju hrvatskih skupina u Bačkoj. Ta su istraživanja istovremeno dobar pokazatelj i nedostataka i prednosti podataka iz upitnica Etnološkog atlasa, kao i njihove primjene u etnološkoj kartografiji. Pritom se dotiče propusta, pogrešaka i slabosti koje su kočile razvoj i realizaciju jednog, po mišljenju autorice, teorijski i metodički dobro postavljenog postupka. Stoga se zalaže da se etnološkoj kartografiji odredi mjesto u etnološkoj znanosti i potakne o njoj stručna rasprava, koja bi, smatra autorica, pokazala da ima dovoljno argumenata da se etnološka kartografija ponovo institucionalizira, jer je to jedini način za njezinu ispravnu i svrhovitu primjenu u praksi. Na kraju autorica problem etnološke kartografije smješta u širi kontekst položaja hrvatske etnologije kao znanosti.The starting point for the discussion about ethnological cartography is the result of the research of the traditions of lighting bonfires among two Croatian ethnic groups, Bunjevci and Šokci, inhabiting the region of Bačka in Voivodina, SR Yugoslavia. The research has well pointed to the deficiencies , as well as to the advantages, of the data in the questionnaires of the Ethnological Atlas and its appliance. The result of the research has also stimulated the author to discuss the mistakes and weaknesses that caused slowdown in the development of the ethnological cartography and its full practical achievement. The author assumes the technique of the ethnological cartography to be theoretically and methodically well conceived procedure, but its realization has failed for many reasons. The essence of the problem has been touched and partly discussed, with the aim to urge the ethnologists to discuss it more thoroughly in order to define the right place of the ethnological cartography in the Croatian ethnology and to decide about its future existence. Only after discussion on that level, according to the authors opinion, there might be enough arguments for the ethnological cartography to gain the institutional rank in Croatia again, which would be the only right solution for the ethnological cartography and the only possible way of its appropriate practical appliance. The problem of the ethnological cartography is finally discussed in the wider context of the position of the Croatian ethnology as a science