Ethnographic Group

(Russian, etnograficheskaia gruppa), a discrete segment of a people that has preserved in its culture and everyday life certain distinguishing characteristics, such as a particular dialect, specific features of material and nonmaterial culture, or distinctive religious beliefs or practices.

Ethnographic groups are formed when a nationality or nation (natsiia, nation in the historical sense) assimilates groups of a different nationality or when tribes merge to form a nationality yet retain some of their characteristic features. Ethnographic groups also form when part of a people is cut off from the primary ethnic group for an extended period because of migration processes or a change in state borders. Examples of ethnographic groups are the Pomory, Markovtsy, and Kamchadaly among the Russians, the Setu among the Estonians, the Normans among the French, the Yuruks among the Turks, and the Maronites among the Lebanese.