EN
The study provides an insight into the argumentation within ethnography under socialism in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Analyzing prefaces and introductory chapters of three synthetic publications the authoress informs about the key concepts and their use in ethnographic writing. Special attention is paid to ethnography's contribution to the making of 'national culture'. The paper concludes with a critical reflection of the concept of culture used in the socialist ethnography as well as in the contemporary ethnology and anthropology.