Nicolae Constantinescu – lecții de etnologie pentru profesori
Nicolae Constantinescu – Teaching Ethnology Professors

Summary/Abstract: As one of the most prominent scholars in Romanian Ethnology and a distinguished University professor for over 45 years, Nicolae Constantinescu is regarded as a mentor by many ethnologists who have started their careers after 1990. some of his disciples have become Ethnology professors in their turn and they relate more or less explicitly to Nicolae Constantinescu as a model. A disciple myself, I review in this paper some of the most important Ethnology "lessons" that professor Constantinescu has been transmitting to us. First of all, one cannot be an Ethnology professor unless one is an accomplished ethnologist himself (herself). That is why it is very important to acquire the professional culture (the history of the discipline at national and international levels and also the specific terminology with all the nuances and updates) and also to be trained as a field ethnologist in order to complete one`s formation. At the same time, an Ethnology professor should know how to address an audience who is most of the times completely innocent as regards inherited "peasant" culture, which is a basic topic of Romanian ethnology. A good professor knows how to criticize his/her students in order for them to feel encouraged to pursue their own researches. Nicolae Constantinescu is well known for supporting young ethnologists by reviewing their works in a constructively critical manner. At the same time, together with his colleagues at the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, he has set up several programmes of studying Ethnology at academic level, pleading for the necessity of learning about one`s heritage as part of knowing one`s own culture in a constantly changing world.

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