!!!Völkerkunde

Ethnology: Ethnology emerged in Austria as an independent field of 
study with the foundation of the  Anthropologische Gesellschaft in 
Vienna (1870) and the Ethnographical Collection of the Museum of 
Natural History whose inventory dates partly from the 16%%sup th/%  
century (Ambras Collection) and from the 18%%sup th/%  century (James 
Cook Collection). The Ethnographic Collection experienced a formidable 
upswing under its first director F.  Heger and became independent in 
1927 as the Austrian  Ethnological Museum. Another centre of 
ethnological research was founded with the entry of the ethnologist 
and linguist W.  Schmidt into the Missionshaus St. Gabriel near 
Moedling (foundation of the Anthropos Institute). At the University of 
Vienna, ethnology was initially taught by the associate professors (M. 
Haberlandt and R.  Poech). In 1913, the latter became the first holder 
of the newly founded professorship for anthropology and ethnology. The 
two fields were separated in 1928, W.  Koppers became Professor of 
Ethnology, the Institute of Ethnology was founded and developed into 
an internationally renowned teaching and research centre under the 
administration of both Kopper and his successor J.  Haekel. A second 
professorship was founded in 1949. Headed by K. Wernhart, it 
represents the ethno-historical stream of ethnology, while the first 
professorship, headed by W. Dostal, represents the materialistic 
approach. The Institute of Ethnology and the Museum of Ethnology 
engage in animated scientific exchange. Furthermore, Austrian 
ethnologists are employed by the UN, UNESCO and other organisations as 
specialists in matters of acculturation and development aid in 
non-European countries. A commission for social anthropology has been 
established at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

!Literature
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ed.), Veroeffentlichungen 
der ethnologischen Kommission zur Sozialanthropologie, 1995ff.


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