Inversive Ambivalence: Traditions and Innovations in the Frontier Societies

The problem of the correlation between tradition and innovation has been on the agenda for decades. As a rule, traditions are perceived as an obligatory attribute of the traditional society opposing such notions as progress, modernization, etc. Modernization turns out to be an integral part of progress. In this article an attempt is made to get away from the conventions of antinomies of tradition and innovation. The author uses the concept of “nvented tradition” by Hobsbawm to show how, in the conditions of frontier liminality and transgression, the meanings of tradition and innovation are constantly changing, interchanged or complemented. The frontier actor finds himself in a new natural and cultural situation, when the only way to survive is to accept traditions of the Other, even if they are archaic ones, which become an innovation for him because they carry new cultural paradigms. Under these conditions, the actor is faced with the choice of several strategies of action, which only at first glance seem to be implemented in the linear opposition to archaism/modernism, but in fact combine both dimensions. The article discusses various variants of these strategies. All of them are illustrated with different examples. Only some variants of these strategies occupy the extreme points of opposition of conservatism/modernism. Two strategies have a hybrid character and easily occupy the whole semantic field, being either conservative or modernist, or being both, which turns them into special chimeras, which, as a rule, are difficult to unambiguously correlate from one side of the opposition. However, they are the essence of the majority of cultural processes in the frontier environment.

Keywords

traditions, innovations, identity construction, ethnic culture, frontier, periphery, hybridity

Acknowledgment

The research was made with the financial support of Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation No З5.6373,20l7/BCh “The creation of a model of tradition and innovation functioning on the Frontier”.

Received

10.05.2020

Publication date

15.10.2020

Number of characters

33624

Cite

GOST	Yakushenkov S. Inversive Ambivalence: Traditions and Innovations in the Frontier Societies // ISTORIYA – 2020. – V. 11. – Issue 9 (95) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840012285-2-1 (circulation date: 20.05.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840012285-2
MLA	Yakushenkov, Sergey "Inversive Ambivalence: Traditions and Innovations in the Frontier Societies." ISTORIYA 11.9 (95) (2020) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840012285-2
APA	Yakushenkov S. (2020). Inversive Ambivalence: Traditions and Innovations in the Frontier Societies. ISTORIYA 11(9 (95)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840012285-2

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