Tradition or culture? The Concept of Tradition in Cultural Anthropology

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

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Výsledek na webu

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Tradition or culture? The Concept of Tradition in Cultural Anthropology

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Tradition has never been a key term in cultural anthropology to deserve a precise theoretical definition, let alone to be developed in methodological discussions or applied and tested in field research practice. The main reason for the lack of interest in tradition is that as a key term in the very beginning of anthropology, the term ‘culture’ has taken hold. Thus, the term tradition in anthropology has been covered and replaced by the term culture, becoming a synonym, a mere part or a partial aspect. The notion of tradition remained ‘lying fallow’ in competition with the notion of culture. Cultural anthropology of the first half of the 20th century usually regards tradition as a static, inertial component of culture. The development of anthropological theory of culture did not remove the concept of tradition, but significantly simplified, narrowed and limited its meaning. Newer research topics of the mid-20th century, such as acculturation, cultural change and the technological-economic, political and social development of the Third World, have prompted a more precise use of the term tradition in anthropology. In this context, the term tradition has been used to denote conservative and static tendencies that prevent culture from responding adequately to changes in natural, economic, political and cultural-historical conditions, thus preventing its development and integration into the global processes of modernization. In the last decades of the 20th century, the concept of tradition as a passive and essentially conservative force has changed fundamentally. In anthropological theory and research there is a gradual tendency to perceive tradition as a creative and dynamic component of culture which, by its permanent reference to the past (whether real, imaginary or additionally constructed) and its heading towards an expected future sensitively responds to present, actual needs and challenges. Anthropologists begin to notice how tradition in every society is being created to justify, rationalize and sanctify these necessary processes of cultural change. Tradition ceases to be perceived in anthropology as a fixed and static component of culture that is only passed on, and on the contrary becomes a flexible pattern of understanding and interpretation that makes it easier to absorb, integrate and exploit new impulses. In the process of cultural change, tradition enables culture to keep, maintain or create certain continuity, and at the same time – with the help of this continuity – enables the processes of cultural change to be directed and targeted for the future. Tradition is a term that anthropologists use not when they speak of ‘the others’, but rather when they reflect how ‘these others’ speak of themselves. In fact, ‘tradition’ is an internal, native term for what anthropologists study and describe from the outside as ‘culture’. At the beginning of the 21st century, new perspectives for the study of tradition are emerging due to the knowledge and methods of cultural anthropology and evolutionary biology are frequently interconnecting. The study of tradition develops in the context of cultural evolution.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Tradition or culture? The Concept of Tradition in Cultural Anthropology

Popis výsledku anglicky

Tradition has never been a key term in cultural anthropology to deserve a precise theoretical definition, let alone to be developed in methodological discussions or applied and tested in field research practice. The main reason for the lack of interest in tradition is that as a key term in the very beginning of anthropology, the term ‘culture’ has taken hold. Thus, the term tradition in anthropology has been covered and replaced by the term culture, becoming a synonym, a mere part or a partial aspect. The notion of tradition remained ‘lying fallow’ in competition with the notion of culture. Cultural anthropology of the first half of the 20th century usually regards tradition as a static, inertial component of culture. The development of anthropological theory of culture did not remove the concept of tradition, but significantly simplified, narrowed and limited its meaning. Newer research topics of the mid-20th century, such as acculturation, cultural change and the technological-economic, political and social development of the Third World, have prompted a more precise use of the term tradition in anthropology. In this context, the term tradition has been used to denote conservative and static tendencies that prevent culture from responding adequately to changes in natural, economic, political and cultural-historical conditions, thus preventing its development and integration into the global processes of modernization. In the last decades of the 20th century, the concept of tradition as a passive and essentially conservative force has changed fundamentally. In anthropological theory and research there is a gradual tendency to perceive tradition as a creative and dynamic component of culture which, by its permanent reference to the past (whether real, imaginary or additionally constructed) and its heading towards an expected future sensitively responds to present, actual needs and challenges. Anthropologists begin to notice how tradition in every society is being created to justify, rationalize and sanctify these necessary processes of cultural change. Tradition ceases to be perceived in anthropology as a fixed and static component of culture that is only passed on, and on the contrary becomes a flexible pattern of understanding and interpretation that makes it easier to absorb, integrate and exploit new impulses. In the process of cultural change, tradition enables culture to keep, maintain or create certain continuity, and at the same time – with the help of this continuity – enables the processes of cultural change to be directed and targeted for the future. Tradition is a term that anthropologists use not when they speak of ‘the others’, but rather when they reflect how ‘these others’ speak of themselves. In fact, ‘tradition’ is an internal, native term for what anthropologists study and describe from the outside as ‘culture’. At the beginning of the 21st century, new perspectives for the study of tradition are emerging due to the knowledge and methods of cultural anthropology and evolutionary biology are frequently interconnecting. The study of tradition develops in the context of cultural evolution.

Druh

C - Kapitola v odborné knize

CEP obor

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OECD FORD obor

50404 - Anthropology, ethnology

Projekt

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Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2019

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název knihy nebo sborníku

Traditionstheorie im Gespräch der Wissenschaften

ISBN

978-3-643-91184-1

Počet stran výsledku

12

Strana od-do

223-234

Počet stran knihy

276

Název nakladatele

LIT Verlag

Místo vydání

Zürich

Kód UT WoS kapitoly

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