The populist-linguistic ethnoanthropological concept of F. Vovk was the first attempt at theoretical generalizations in the field of Ukrainian ethnic anthropology. For many reasons, mainly beyond his control, F. Vovk did not present this concept in the form of a single work, but the analysis of the sources available to us makes it possible to recreate its main principles. In this article, we would like to emphasize that F. Vovk was the author and the most consistent conductor of a new methodology of ethnoanthropological research based on a deep study of the essence of «people’s being», understanding the interconnectedness, interdependence of all aspects of this being. This methodology provides a complete understanding of the process of ethnogenesis. This is the methodology of the so-called «anthropogeographical approach». The anthropogeographic approach consists in determining the areas of the so-called anthropological (racial) types, as well as the geographical direction of variations of these types (directions of intergroup variability for both groups of signs - measuring and descriptive; such directions in which there is an increase or decrease in the anthropological characteristics of certain population groups are determined correlations between features). In Soviet times, the anthropogeographic approach was not applied to ethnoanthropological studies of the Ukrainian ethnos, it was replaced by a kind of «ethnopolitical» approach, which made it possible to speculate on the ethnocultural kinship of the three East Slavic peoples and draw the conclusions needed by the authorities that Ukrainians, they say, do not differ anthropologically from Russians and Belarusians in any way. The consequence of ignoring the anthropogeographic principle was that, for example, large-scale studies of the Ukrainian anthropological expedition in 1956-1963. the fifth part (more precisely 20.7%) of the territory of the Ukrainian SSR was not covered – the Ukrainian South or the Steppe ethnographic region of Ukraine. The conclusions of F. Vovk about the southern as the main direction of such ties are confirmed by modern science. The need for a critical rethinking of the methodological foundations of Ukrainian ethnic anthropology, a proper assessment of the achievements of the F. Vovk school is beyond doubt. Comprehension of the theoretical and methodological foundations of F. Vovk’s ethno-anthropological concept, the introduction into modern scientific circulation of materials of many years of research by F. Vovk and his students will greatly enrich the understanding of the process of ethnogenesis of Ukrainians

ukrainian ethnic anthropology, theoretical and methodological fundamentals, ethnoanthropological concept, anthropogeographic principle