Notion of ethnic culture in the works by Norbertas Vėlius

The paper analyses the notion of “ethnic culture” and explores its concept in the works of Norbertas Vėlius. It also investigates the beginning of appearance of the term “ethnic culture” in Lithuanian writings, attempts to clarify how it was perceived by Vėlius, one of the most prominent Lithuanian ethnologists, who largely contributed to the introduction of this term into scholarly literature. The term “ethnic culture” crystallised out in Lithuania as a consequence of the activities of the group of traditional culture lovers and advocates; however, its authorship could be ascribed to Vėlius. Vėlius did not specifically investigate the notion of “ethnic culture” and the issue of its possible limits; however, his works imply that he saw the possibility of using “ethnic culture” both in its narrow sense (synonymously to folk/traditional culture) and in its broader sense (as the whole culture of the nation). Although the term “ethnic culture” has already been used for two decades in Lithuania, there is no consensus as to its meaning. Some perceive ethnic culture as a synonym for traditional/folk culture, whereas others as a synonym for the whole national culture. Opinions also diverge in the scientific milieu, which shows that the term has a double meaning. The exact sense of the term should be indicated in each case of its use. The term “national culture” should be used to express the notion of the culture created by the entire nation, and the term “traditional/folk culture” should be used to denote the traditional culture of the nation