The Invention of Tradition by Eric Hobsbawm Summary and Analysis Part- 2

Convention/routine is also different from tradition. He says that conventions do not have any significant ritual or symbolic function. These are social practices carried out repeatedly and are insufficient to deal with unforeseen or inhabitual contingencies but are necessitated by industrialisation. Conventions are technical than ideological and are designed to facilitate readily definable practical operations and are abandoned or modified to meet changing practical needs. Conventions turn inert gradually and people who attached to them resist innovation.

Inventing tradition is essentially a process of formalisation and ritualisation characterised by reference to the past if only by imposing repetition. It is easy to trace traditions when they are deliberately invented, and constructed by a single initiator. The tradition of boy scouts initiated by Badem Powell is an example for this. It is very difficult to trace the origin, place and circulation of tradition when it is partly invented, partly evolved in private groups. Traditions are invented in every historic period and they are more frequent when rapid transformations of society weaken or destroy social patterns. New traditions are invented when the old traditions no longer prove sufficiently adaptable and flexible or they are completely eliminated. The high number of invented traditions in 19^th and 20^th century hint at the rapid social transformations occurred during this period. Traditions associated with the old form of community and authority structure are unadaptable and become rapidly unviable. New traditions form from the inability to use or adapt old ones.

Adaptation takes place for old uses in new conditions and by using old models for new purposes. Ancient materials are used to construct invented traditions of a novel type for quite novel purposes. A large store house of materials needed to invent new traditions is available in all society. There are occasions in which new traditions are grafted in old ones. This is illustrated by citing the example of Swiss nationalists who have modified, ritualised and institutionalised existing customary traditional practices such as folksong, physical contests, workmanship etc...for the new national purpose.

As already stated, invented traditions imply historical continuity and it is largely factitious. At times, historic continuity is also invented by employing semi fiction or by forgery. Hobsbawm cautions readers not to confuse the strength and adaptability of genuine traditions with that of invented traditions. He makes it clear as “where the old ways are alive, traditions need be neither revived nor invented”. The failure of 19^th century liberal ideology to provide for social and authority ties resulted in creating gaps which were later filled by invented practices.

In this part, Hobsbawm makes certain general remarks on invented traditions emerged since industrialisation. They are

a) they establish or symbolise social cohesion or the membership of groups, real or artificial communities

b) establish or legitimize institutions status or relations of authority

c) main purpose is socialisation, inculcation of beliefs, value systems and conventions of behaviour.

 

The Invention of Tradition by Eric Hobsbawm Summary and Analysis Part-1

Eric Hobsbawm is a British Marxist historian. His writings combine the breadth of vision with interesting details. His major works are Primitive Rebels (1959), The Age of Revolution (1962), Labouring Men (1964), and Industry and Empire (1968). He has collaborated with Terence Ranger to edit the work The Invention of Tradition (1983) which offers significant insights into the making of traditions in modern society. This is an outline of the introductory essay by Hobsbawm detailing the origin, development and purpose of inventing tradition.

Hobsbawm begins the essay by pointing at the recent origin of the pageantry of British monarchy in its public ceremonial manifestations. This tradition is maintained in such a way that it connects the present monarch with the earliest of the dynasty. Though these traditions may appear or claim to appear old, most of them are quite recent in origin (in this case, the present form of the ceremonial manifestation of British monarch is a product of late 19^th and 20^th century) and sometimes invented. In this introductory article, Hobsbawm discusses issues such as the invention, appearance and establishment of tradition.

The term ‘Invented tradition’ includes both traditions actually invented, constructed and formally instituted and those emerging in a less easily traceable manner within a brief and dateable period and establishing themselves with great rapidity. The author focuses on the appearance and establishment of invented traditions than of their chances of survival. According to him, an invented tradition ‘is a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour, by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past’. It is common that these traditions normally attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historic past. Hobsbawm illustrates this point by citing the deliberate choice of a gothic style for the 19^th century rebuilding of the British Parliament. Bernard S. Cohn cites the example of the introduction of durbars in colonial India to establish British authority by creating a replica of Mughal durbars. Invented traditions imply continuity with the past and this is largely artificially created.

Then the author examines the reasons for the emergence of invented traditions. He states that these traditions are responses to new situations which take references to old situations; otherwise they establish their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition. According to the author, invented traditions are born out of the attempts to structure at least some parts of social life as unchanging and invariant within the constant change and innovation of the modern world.

The author then distinguishes ‘custom’ and ‘tradition’. According to him, customs practiced by traditional societies admit innovation to a point whereas invented traditions are never open to change. While custom is dynamic, tradition imposes fixed practices. Customs require being compatible or identical with precedent whereas tradition requires formalised repetition. Hobsbawm acknowledges the role of custom in giving any desired change the sanction of precedent, social continuity and natural law as expressed in history. It also shows the combination of flexibility in substance and formal adherence to precedent.

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Chapter 7

A Solitary Human Voice from Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

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Plato’ s Observations on Drama

         Plato considers dramatic writing as a branch of poetry, so that all the charges he levied on poetry- , twice removed from reality, poetic inspiration, the emotional appeal of poetry and its non-moral character-are applicable to drama as well. In addition to these, he makes three more observations on Drama. They are: appeal to baser instincts, effects of impersonation and tragic and comic pleasure.

      The first one is the appeal to baser instincts. Drama is a performance art so that it is to be staged and multitudes of people are involved in approving and disapproving drama. It is natural that dramatists try to please the audience by adding scenes of fights, quarrels and lamentations, thus catering to base instincts. The second one is the effects of impersonation on actors. According to Plato, sometimes drama reacts unfavourably on the actors. By constantly impersonating evil characters, evil qualities may enter into the actors; it is detrimental to the natural self of the actors. The third is tragic and comic pleasure: tragic pleasure is derived from the excess indulgence in base emotions. Comic pleasure, on the other hand, is deriving happiness from the weakness of a fellow-being and hence undesirable.