出身德意志地區，長期在客家地區傳教的傳教士歐德理（ErnstJohannes Eitel, 1838-1908）是客家研究史中的重要角色。他於1867 至1869 年間發表的〈客家漢人民族誌略〉（＂Ethnographical Sketches of theHakka Chinese＂），以及1873 年發表的〈客家歷史大綱〉（＂An OutlineHistory of the Hakkas＂）奠定了後世客家研究方法與客家人認同的基調。本研究認為比較歐德理在〈客家漢人民族誌略〉、德意志學者Ehrmann〈普遍與特定民族學大綱〉倫敦民族學會《民族學訪問手冊》，可知歐德理撰寫〈客家漢人民族誌略〉的架構，主要還是受到德語民族誌學之Ethnographie/ Völkerkunde 的傳統的影響。在客家歷史方面，歐德理出身的Tübingen 學派學風雖然強調以文獻所載的歷史證據考據聖經，但面對客家族譜虛構的族群遷徙史，歷史考證法卻無用武之地，最後竟建構了客家人遷徙神話。

German missionary Ernst Johannes Eitel (1838-1908) is an important scholar in the history of Hakka studies. His ＂Ethnographical Sketches of the Hakka Chinese＂ (1867-1869) and ＂An Outline History of the Hakkas＂ (1873) laid the foundation to develop Hakka identity in the early twentieth century, and Eitel's methodology was also adopted by later scholars in their Hakka studies. In this paper, I start with the etymological clarification of Eitel's terminology, ＂ethnographic sketches＂, and trace its scholarly root to the mid-eighteenth century Germany. Then I make a comparison among Eitel's works, the German Ethnographie/Völkerkunde tradition, and the British questionnaire of ethnological inquiry. The result reveals Eitel was strongly influenced by his native German traditions. Finally, I find the historical criticism of the Tübingen School, from which Eitel was nourished, was unable to help Eitel critically read the fictitious parts in Hakka genealogies and made him constructed the myth of Hakka migration.