De creatie van traditie volgens Eric Hobsbawm

Samenvatting

The term "invention of tradition" is encountered with a certain regularity in international papers in the field of cultural studies. By now the concept has become a dominant presence in studies devoted to the development of theories concerning rituals, and studies which are concerned with the processes by which rituals change or involvement with tradition and the past, or which are directed toward research into rites and folklorism or folklorisation. From this broader context, "invention of tradition" has meanwhile also become common property in liturgical studies. In the terms "invention of tradition", "invented tradition" or "invented traditions", implicit or explicit reference is made to the collection The Invention of Tradition, edited by Hobsbawm and Ranger, which appeared in 1983. In this contribution, we pause to examine the use of the concept of "invented traditions". The point of departure for this is the insight, gained through a rereading of Hobsbawm, that the concept of "invention of tradition" or "invented tradition" seems to have become rather far removed from its original setting and significance. Rather than placing the emphasis on the aspect of unmasking or demythologizing on the one side, and on the other side on that of manipulation from above, to follow in Hobsbawm's footsteps attention must be directed to tradition, ritual, identity and the functions and meaning of "inventions" of this sort. In place of the rather pejorative context surrounding "invention of tradition" as manipulation and the falsification of history, it would appear that, based on the formulation of Hobsbawm's theory, particularly when considered in the context of his whole oeuvre, it should be understood in the neutral sense of the creation or construction of traditions, or making innovations in them, and specifically as being a creative way of handling our interplay with the past.