The practical limits of inventing traditions: the failed reinvention of the Sinjska Alka

The Alka is a traditional game in Croatia, held to commemorate the victory of the local warriors of the region of Cetina over the Ottoman army in 1715. The Croatian nationalist discourse of the 1990s tried to reinvent the Alka as symbol of a certain national identity, by nationalising this local event and emphasising its religious aspect. In a period of just over a decade, however, the project of reinventing the Alka has failed completely. This paper analyses the reinvention of the Alka and its failure in order to argue that concrete cases of invented tradition are context dependent and may encounter practical limits.     

中国文化现代化与东亚合作

本文尝试将中国文化现代化与东亚合作议题结合起来进行整体性思考,以探讨区域文化传统的传承、大众文化与文化产业合作以及有益于共同利益的、面向未来的"文化共同体"建构。首先,提出了观察和思考中国文化现代化路径的三个维度:民族本源、地区基础和全球视野。其次,梳理了东亚文化传统的同质性内容和共同演进逻辑,讨论了以东亚文化传统为基石构建面向未来的"文化共同体"的可能性。其三,以全球范围内的文化"同质化"趋势为背景,提出应立足东亚三国文化产业领域的既有优势、合作基础和共同市场,构造一条成熟有序的大众文化生产与传播"链条"。     

Articulating national identity in Turkmenistan: inventing tradition through myth,cult and language

A study of myth, cult, and language as tools of state power, this paper analyzes ways national identity was constructed and articulated in one state. When Türkmenistan became independent in 1991 its first president, Saparmyrat Nyýazow, promoted himself as the ‘savior’ of the nation by reconceptualising what it meant to be Türkmen. Myth, public texts and language policy were used to construct this identity. While they were the targets of the state's cultural products, Türkmen citizens contributed to the processes of cultural production. Nyýazow legitimised his authoritarian leadership, first by co‐opting Türkmen citizens to support his regime, and then by coercing them as participants in his personality cult. The paper concludes that Nyýazow used the production of culture, ‘invented tradition’ in Hobsbawm's sense, to bolster his agenda and further his own power. It also argues that the exaggerated cult of personality Nyýazow cultivated limited his achievements, rather than solidifying them.     

Epistemological paradigms in the perception and assessment of vernacular architecture

The current situation of vernacular architecture is a result of the different perspectives of agents who have some sort of direct or indirect relationship with the architecture of the past which has influenced attitudes and ways of thinking, thus guaranteeing its assessment and survival. Therefore, this article reviews recent currents of thought and theories encapsulating the increased value of vernacular architecture. In the eighteenth century, this architecture made the romantic ideals of rural society synonymous with its surroundings, territory and country. In the twentieth century, a select few modernist intellectuals carried out in-depth studies of this architectural type in relation to its formal values. Now, in the twenty-first century, it has become the object of technological and scientific analysis for many experts. The current situation still presents many unresolved problems, which are perhaps the result of little thought having been put into specific aspects of the process of vernacular architecture.     

Past continuous: archaeological representations on Israeli banknotes and coins

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the special role of archaeological representations on the legal tender in Israel. Money is one of the most pervasive symbolic instruments in daily life, frequently used for nation-building and carrying a political agenda. The use of archaeological representations on Israeli money has a clear political role: to revalidate the national Jewish-Zionist resurrection, to justify the nation’s claim for its historical land, and to draw the state’s borders through archaeological findings. This article sheds light on the centrality given to archaeology by members of the Bank of Israel Banknotes and Coinage Planning Committee and is based on its proceedings and correspondence from its inception in late 1955 to 2012.     

Tradition as play: pilgrimage to “England’s Nazareth”

This article explores the “invention of tradition” thesis by examining the physical and ideological reconstruction, as well as the contemporary use, of the Christian pilgrimage site of Walsingham, in Norfolk, England. We argue that a focus on the actions and motivations of cultural élites encourages a one‐dimensional view of ritual and ignores how traditions may be transformed in the process of re‐enactment by other members of society.     

近50年来国内关于史学传统的研究

中国史学的优良传统是当代史学得以发展的重要思想资料之一。发掘和继承中国史学的优良传统,作为我们史学创新的起点,这是当前历史条件下史学发展的要求。近50年来国内关于史学传统的研究从整理史学遗产工作开始,对史学传统的研究逐渐从内容的总结上升到对民族精神、人文精神的挖掘,并就一些史学传统之间的联系和现实意义展开讨论,出现了活跃的局面。从中可以预见中国史学传统研究的趋势和前景,为新时期史学进行新创造提供借鉴。     

论《毛传》“独标兴体”的诗学贡献

本文仅以《毛传》解《诗》“独标兴体”为题,从历时角度,阐明其特殊的诗学地位和贡献,认为：《毛传》把《诗三百》原本单纯的引起之“兴”,发展为复杂的隐喻之“兴”,从而构建起自己独特的解诗之道,开创了以讽喻、寄托释“兴”的传统,并通过《郑笺》、《文心雕龙·比兴》篇的阐释得以延续和不断丰富起来,进而对后世中国古代诗学以及古代思想文化传统的建树均居功甚伟,影响深远。     

中国的通史传统与世界史编纂

中国的通史传统是指在长期、丰富的通史编纂实践中,中国历史学家逐渐形成的以通古今之变为核心的历史认识理论和通史编纂思想。通史传统是中国历史编纂学重要的理论资产之一。在世界史研究和编纂过程中,应当通过对通史传统的深入挖掘和不断发扬,赋予当代中国世界史研究理论体系鲜明的民族特色,并进一步推进马克思主义理论、中国史学优秀传统和当代中国世界史研究的融会贯通。     

The Thaikkal-Kadakkarappally Boat: an Archaeological Example of Medieval Shipbuilding in the Western Indian Ocean

Recent excavations at Kadakkarappally in Kerala, south-west India, have unearthed the remains of an iron-fastened boat, believed to predate the earliest known records for the use of iron in South Asian boatbuilding. The design departs significantly from the traditional view of Indian watercraft, although the use of locally available timber and the suitability of the design for use in the backwaters that characterise the region suggest that it was built and used in India. This is the first excavation of its type to take place in Kerala and contradicts the belief, widely held in Kerala, that the survival of organic remains has been negated by the tropical climate of the region.
© 2004 The Nautical Archaeology Society