Inventing Tradition

Functions

Invented traditions are inextricably linked to the heritage process and the construction of identity, heritage meaning the selective use or manipulation of the past in and for the present. Like heritage, invented traditions are not “given;” rather, they are “made” and serve a number of social, political, and economic functions. The motivations for constructing or inventing a connection with the past are wide ranging but appear to stem primarily from the need for some sort of social cohesion. Hobsbawm (1983, 9) believes there are three “types” of invented traditions: “(1) those establishing or symbolizing social cohesion or membership of groups, real or artificial communities; (2) those establishing or legitimizing institutions, status or relationships of authority; and (3) those whose main purpose was socialization, the inoculation of beliefs, value systems, and conventions of behaviour.” All three give weight to the idea that the invention of tradition is a highly political process where cultural practices and acts are symbolically constituted to evoke memories of the past, which serve to strengthen a group's position and/or its institutions in the present. Evoking, enacting, and inventing tradition has been an integral part of nation-building for centuries. [Page 812]Nations are in effect groups of people who believe they consist of a single people based on shared criteria, which can be both cultural and historical. In these “imagined communities” as Anderson called them in 1993, all of the members will never truly know each other; nations are created and flagged through the invention and reinvention of tradition. Responsible for formally instituting contrived practices or activities, the role of national governments in inventing traditions is fundamentally important. They are responsible for manipulating the nation's story into a narrative that underpins the essence of nationalist ideology. This ideology, permeated by myths and historical inaccuracies, is commonly referred to as a form of emotional glue, which binds people together and promotes a collective identity; it is tradition that helps formulate this ideology through creating a moral code or consciousness. The late-nineteenth and early twentieth century in Europe, for example, saw a wave of nation-building unleashed by the dissolution of empires and the call for self-determination. Across Europe, new national governments took a vested interest in the production of enduring national identities and their accompanying narratives. At the cornerstone of each was a series of invented or reinvented traditions. It is important to note that inventing tradition is not solely the preserve of the state. Operating on a number of scales, forging a connection with the past is just as important to a small ethnic or cultural group as the nation-state in its quest for legitimization and validation. Invented traditions are also especially important to groups whose identity is under threat. In such cases, there are pronounced attempts to exhibit a strong, resilient, and authentic identity.

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