Critical Review 1

In their essay “Tradition, Genuine or Spurious”, Handler and Linnekin elaborate on the notion of tradition as a continual reinvention/reinterpretation of the past.  They see tradition as a symbolic entity formed in the present in a specific cultural context, rather than as a static set of beliefs and practices that are passed down as unchanging cultural objects from one generation to the next.  They use examples from societies in Hawaii and Quebec where traditions take on new meanings as they are reinterpreted consciously in the present in an attempt to reclaim continuity with the past.  Ultimately, the authors contend, our feeling that a tradition can be labeled objectively genuine or spurious underscores our misunderstanding of the meaning of tradition, something defined in the present in terms of its relation to an interpreted past.

Discussion question: Can we make any objective claims about a culture’s traditions?  Aren’t there still traditions that continue to be passed down as A. L. Kroeber suggests? Can’t we make some judgments regarding the continuity of those practices?  What about a Rosh Hashanah or Shabbat meal with an orthodox Jewish family?