Invention of Tradition

Great Moravia and Great Moravian Tradition of Generation of Kollár and Šafárik

This study focuses on factography and symbolism of Great Moravia in the works of Ján Hollý, Ján Kollár and Pavol Jozef Šafárik. It gives an insight in their the most important works for historism and historiography and tries to cast light on its connection to nationalism, Romanticism and forming of a modern nation. The analysis uncovered that main tendency of presented information about the Slavic empire was positive. All scholars believed to close interconnection between events of the 9th century and territory of Slovakia or straightly with Slovaks. The image of Great Moravia varied from historic Slovak kingdom to last Panslavic empire. They used similar heuristic base and showed sizeable knowledge of various sources and secondary literature. The distinction is visibly mostly in quantity and quality of the texts because references in Kollár’s works are only fragmentary; Hollý only wrote a few works and commentaries; Šafárik offered several times richer and more complex interpretation.

Key words: Great Moravia – Great Moravian tradition – Ján Hollý (1785–1849) – Ján Kollár (1793–1852) – Pavol Jozef Šafárik (1795–1861) – 19th century – Slovak historiography

RESUMEN

“Miguel Hidalgo en los relatos de nación. Del patriotismo criollo al nacionalismo posrevolucionario” no es una investigación que se ocupe de la vida y obra de Hidalgo. Este estudio desarrolla  cómo se construyó el mito nacional en torno a este personaje y cuál fue la importancia que tuvo dicho mito en el proceso de invención de la nación mexicana durante el siglo XIX y primera mitad del XX.

        El trabajo está enfocado en dos aspectos importantes: se aborda cómo el mito del “padre de la patria” ha sido utilizado como estrategia de legitimación política  y como fuerza cohesionadora que facilitó que la población se identificara y sintiera parte de una sola comunidad cultural y política: la nación mexicana

        Para desarrollar la investigación fue necesario identificar los distintos imaginarios nacionales que fueron impulsados desde el siglo XIX para explicar qué era la nación mexicana, qué era lo mexicano y quiénes eran los mexicanos. Cada uno de estos imaginarios fue promovido por diversas condiciones políticas, económicas y tecnológicas. Una vez que se tuvieron estos contextos, en cada uno de ellos se desarrolla qué interpretación se hacía de Miguel Hidalgo, cómo las elites rectoras del país reinterpretaron y se apropiaron de su culto para justificar su poder político y para potenciar una identidad nacional en el resto de la población.

        Esta estrategia metodológica fue derivada de la llamada “teoría modernista sobre el nacionalismo y la invención de las naciones”, la cual sostiene que las naciones modernas son construcciones culturales que tuvieron cabida a finales del siglo XVIII e inicios del XIX, cuando se desplazó la tradición divino-dinástica de los Estados de Antiguo régimen y “la Nación” fue colocada como fuente de soberanía de los Estados modernos. La investigación se centró en cuatro tipo de fuentes: la historiografía clásica del siglo XIX, las celebraciones patrióticas, la enseñanza de historia patria en sistema escolar influenciado por el gobierno y a partir de las fuentes icónicas (monumentos, pintura, etc.) que han tenido un peso en la construcción de imaginarios nacionales.

        Como última precisión, es pertinente mencionar que la tesis, aunque está centrada en la invención del mito del “padre de la patria”, también aporta conocimiento sobre el proceso de invención de la nación mexicana y lo que esto ha implicado: la manipulación del discurso histórico.

Palabras clave:    Miguel Hidalgo, nacionalismo, nación, mito, héroe.

This paper investigates the presence of the commedia dell’arte as an autonomous language in theatrical dance from the 17th century until present performance. On the one hand, the nature of such a language suggests an idea of the tradition of the body on stage as rupture and transgression. On the other hand, it alludes to the idea of an illustrious theatrical past, constructed, through its revivals, in order to legitimize the imagination and to discipline the anxieties of the present. Thus, the use of the commedia dell’arte in dance works as a cultural appropriation, but it does not actually promote an ideology of rupture or transgression: it rather stages a satire and a grotesque variation of movements and characters that had been normalized and institutionalized in European ballet academies. This appropriation corresponds to theatrical dance’s search for an intensification its artistic autonomy and aesthetic legitimacy. In particular, choreography, through commedia dell’arte, redefines its historical relationship with written and also visual texts. Therefore, the supposed ‘movement style’ of the commedia dell’arte, arbitrarily invented and constructed according to written and iconographic sources, represents the epiphany of a non-neutral idea of past, politically derisive and critical towards traditional artistic values.

The gradual imposition of Christianity over the public space at Rome had changed the face of traditional paganism itself. Although many changes in the collective forms of devotio had occurred already in the third century AD, it was during the ‘‘long’’ fourth century that new mentalities and practices alienated Roman paganism from the traditional forms of worship. Julian’s attempt of establishing a ‘Pagan Church’ and later the so called ‘last pagan revival’ at Rome during the 390’s under the Nicomachi contributed to the emergence of a new ‘Reactionary’ paganism. New manners of worship destined for the selected few and radical practices like human sacrifice alienated even further this activity from its previous classical forms. In order to preserve a distinct identity and presence, this last generation of pagan aristocrats experimented with a new interpretation of the mos maiorum and in their attempt to defend their version of Romanitas against an expanding Christianity they inevitably forged a pagan ‘doctrine’ and ‘salvation plan’ similar to that of their Christian contemporaries. This new pagan counter-reformation was characterized by new radical messages and an attempt of constructing a collective identity accompanied with an articulate, monolithic form of belief, either as a defense mechanism or as a result of a more esoteric change or need. This paper will attempt to explore this new pagan identity that emerged only a few years before the (public) extinction of polytheism and will attempt to trace the potentials of this last Pagan Revolution.

According to a contemporary source, the Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, leader of the Fourth Crusade, was buried with great honor in the famous Hagia Sophia in 1205. A marble slab with inscription “Henricus Dandolo” in the floor of the central bay of the south gallery of the church commemorates his burial. It is also the only obvious material reference to the period of the Latin occupation of Constantinople, which lasted from 1204 to 1261.
This modest object is almost always ignored in descriptions of what can be seen in the current building, which was a museum since 1934 and very recently became a mosque again. As will be shown, in the few earlier publications on this subject not all aspects and available sources have been taken into account.
This article answers the questions of when and why the marble slab mentioning the name of the Venetian doge Dandolo was placed in Hagia Sophia. I argue that it was not a medieval object which survived the post-Byzantine history of Hagia Sophia. Rather it is a nineteenth-century invention.
Keywords: Hagia Sophia; Invention of tradition; memory; appropriation; Crusader period

This article presents an analysis of the invention of tradition within music created by and related to Swahili culture. We focus on the ways the local tourist industry deals with musical heritage. Through the analysis of history and praxis of the traditional music of Zanzibar, we will showcase how the musical heritage is dealt with in four cases: 1) the in the 19th century invented tradition of beni music, 2) the musical heritage of taarab (Music Culture Club of Zanzibar), and 3) the Sidi Sufis, the recently re-invented traditional African-Indian mystic music of Gujarat. These traditions were embraced by the local population, yet all for different reasons. This, in contrast to 4), the heritage of Farrokh Bulsara, otherwise known as Freddy Mercury, a Zanzibar born Parsi from India, whose musical heritage isn’t embraced by the whole local community of Zanzibar and recently caused a discussion between the local oriented tourist industry and the Western oriented one. Our aim is not to merely illustrate the dialectics of tradition, but to link these very dialectics to the problematic position the resulting cultural difference takes. How are these “traditions” framed? What role do they have? Whom are they enacted for? As such, this paper is more than a mere illustration of invented traditions or imagined communities, as it provides compelling examples of the expediency of culture in the transnational cultural market, and the influence of the global demand for traditional experiences without disregarding the bound with its places of origin.

Bu çalışmada, kültürlerin ve geleneklerin hiçbir zaman ‘saf’ ve ‘özgün’ hâlde bulunmadıkları, ‘yaratılışlarının’ mübadele, uzlaşma, temellük etme, adaptasyon, melezleşme gibi süreçlere dayandığı varsayımından yola çıkılmıştır. Buna göre bir kültürün veya geleneğin oluşması, zorunlu olarak diyalogdan geçer; bölgesel ve uluslararası çevreyle karşılıklı ilişki içinde gelişir. Bunun yanında her gelenek, belirli toplumsal ihtiyaçlar ışığında sonradan icat edilir ve yeniden icat edilir. Bu yaratılış süreci, bazen nispeten ‘doğal’ denebilecek yollarla gerçekleşirken, zaman zaman ise bilinçli bir senkretizm çabasına dayanır. Bu makale, kendilerini ‘Osmanlı şehir müziği’ yapan bir grup olarak tanımlayan ve tahayyül ettikleri bu ‘geleneksel’ müziği popüler müzik çalgılarından da faydalanmak suretiyle ‘modernleştirerek’ icra eden Kırıka özelinde; geleneğin canlandırılması, yeniden yaratılması ve tahayyül yoluyla icat edilmesi sacayağında konuya hem analitik bir yaklaşım getirmeye çalışır, hem de geleneğin yaratılma süreçlerindeki varsayımlara yönelik eleştirel bir bakış geliştirmeyi amaçlar.

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This study relies upon the hypothesis that cultures and traditions are never ‘pure’ and ‘genuine’, and their ‘creation’ is based on processes like cultural exchange, reconciliation, appropriation, adaptation, and hybridization. In line with this assumption, a culture or a tradition can only form by dialog, and they develop by interacting with regional and international milieu. In addition, each tradition gets invented and reinvented afterwards in concert with certain social needs. This creation process sometimes bears upon manners that can be called relatively ‘natural’, while it also takes deliberate stabs at syncretism from time to time. This paper, investigating the case of Kırıka which describe themselves as a band performing ‘Ottoman urban music’ but use pop music instruments at the same time and modernize such ‘imagined’ traditional music by doing so, attempts to give an analytical insight for the topic based on the concepts of revival, recreation and invention of tradition, and develops a critical approach towards the assumptions employed while fabricating the tradition.

Author Mark Kurlansky’s quote underlines just how unique our relationship with salt is. Every European language has its equivalent of “The salt of the earth” or “Not worth his salt,” sayings which represent the value of salt, at least in earlier times. This paper explores why salt is not simply sodium chloride, using the long history of the saltworks in Trapani as a starting point for an investigation that finds salt at the intersection, in the past and today, of economics, politics, and social relations. The paper also examines the documentation that lead to Slow Food recognizing Trapani salt as a presidium, and poses questions about the correct place for artisanal alimentary products, as well as about the curious link between them and identity.

Recent anthropological and other literature tends to
assume that the uses of heritage in modern societies
lead to the falsification, petrification,
desubstantiation, and enclosure of the things and
practices so designated. Yet two traditions of
Japan’s ancient capital Kyoto—the historic town
houses (kyˆo-machiya) that have found a new
appreciation since the 1990s and the Gion matsuri,
one of the most famous festivals of the
nation—contradict these assumptions. Their
well-documented histories are not widely distorted;
they are not forever fixed but allowed to evolve;
they are valued not only for their traditionality but
also for other, substantive qualities; and their
appreciation is not dominated by a concern for
social boundaries. This is influenced by the urban,
relatively sophisticated and cosmopolitan
background of both traditions, as it is in parallel
cases elsewhere. Greater attention to the
perspectives of their carriers, however, will very
likely show that the social uses of other traditions
too are more complex than the standard
assumptions lead one to believe. [Japan, cultural
heritage, invention of tradition, vernacular
architecture, festivals, urban anthropology]

Les religions ne constituent pas des monolithes immuables et inchangés dans le temps. Elles évoluent au fil de l’histoire humaine, changent au gré des transformations culturelles et sociales des communautés dans lesquelles elles s’implantent, négocient avec les instances séculières et religieuses leur pertinence et leur droit d’exister ; bref, elles innovent constamment pour s’assurer une place dans un monde lui aussi en constant changement. Cet article propose deux outils pour analyser les innovations au sein des traditions religieuses : les théories de la réception, inspirées des travaux de Hans Robert Jauss, et l’invention des traditions, inspirée du célèbre ouvrage d’Eric J. Hobsbawm et Terence O. Ranger. L’intérêt de l’utilisation de ces outils en histoire est qu’ils permettent, entre autres choses, de dépasser les oppositions classiques tradition/modernité et authenticité/innovation en analysant les religions du point de vue des ruptures et des transformations à l’intérieur de celles-ci. Ces outils seront appliqués à un cas particulier, celui de la réception et de la réinvention du taoïsme dans les sociétés occidentales au XXe siècle. Cette tradition religieuse chinoise vieille de plusieurs siècles a en effet été réinventée en Occident et transformée en une tradition spirituelle universelle répondant aux attentes des Occidentaux en matière de spiritualité contemporaine.

The “Illyrian heraldry”, as a phenomenon of the invented tradition, encompasses the rolls of arms - armorials, which appear in Dalmatia, Italy, Spain and Austria at the end of the XVI and beginning of the XVII century. These armorials contained Serbian and other southern Slav monarchic, territorial and family coats of arms. The authenticity, heraldic sources and origins of these armorials are extremely complex problems that can be traced back to the medieval heraldic heritage of the Serbs, on the one hand, and reveal the intricate web of political circumstances in the XVI and XVII centuries. Illyrian heraldry is also closely linked to the personal and political ambitions of the Spanish admiral, Don Pedro Ohmučević Grgurić, from Slano near Dubrovnik. One cannot, however, link the entire Illyrian heraldry movement only to the daring ambitions of Petar Ohmučević Grgurić. In in the XVI and XVII centuries historical constructions, inspired for the most part by sincere Slav patriotism, emerged that proved the unity of the Illyrians and the Slavs, revealed the alleged Slav origins of famous figures (Alexander the Great, Justinian), or simply extolled the splendour and magnitude of a lost Slav kingdom, that could be restored again. Much as it was developing within the spiritual scope of the Catholic church, this “Slovine” movement found its historical basis in the medieval statehood of Serbia and Bosnia, particularly in the powerful empire of Stephan Dushan (1331-55), in the Serbian potentates, heroes, their glitter and opulence, which used to glorify the Slav world. Since the XVII century till today, despite their doubtful authenticity, the Illyrian armorials have been considered important genealogical and heraldic documents. Many families relied on the information in Illyrian heraldic collections when claiming their true, or, more often purported, ancient hereditary rights, titles and lands. The Illyrian armorials were transcribed and reprinted in books that were important for the national identity of the southern Slav peoples, such as Orbini's Kingdom of the Slavs (1601), Stemmatographia or The Drawing, Description and Renewal of Illyrian Coats of Arms by Pavao Riter Vitezović, published in Vienna in 1701, and Stemmatographia by Hristifor Žefarović, published in 1741. After the liberation of Serbia and Montenegro from the Turks, heraldry was granted official sanction, and the coats of arms are based on the tradition preserved in Illyrian heraldry.

Journal of Inquiry and Research 107 (2018), p. 211-220.

In this article, I introduce a class called  "Area Studies: Europe (A History of Europe in 13 objects" that I have been teaching in Kansai Gaidai University. I present its key concepts (Object biography, invention of tradition) and the tasks assigned to students (writing short essays, writing sets of questions, drawing, creating time-lines, ...)

In all of the primitive societies Totem means the sacred animal, which is believed that the community has derived from it. This believing, is named as Totemism, has become a system of belief in Central America and South Africa. According to Totemism someone is not able to injure any sacred animal, not able to kill animal without making required ritual, and not able to benefit from any of an animal. This animal, is consecrated, saves people and lives for their goodness as well. It is shown a great effort to continue the growth and generation of sacred animals in communities where Totemism understanding. There are religious beliefs and magical practices in essence behavior of making Totem, has become social trend in recent times. Public beliefs, developing and growing as good-luck and bad-luck and their accompanying practices around Turkish culture, have undergoing a transformation structural and functional maintenance in the form of retention behavior of Totem and making Totem. In this study it will be examined human beliefs, is transformed to good-luck and bad-luck in postmodern times, as examples in football matches. It will be studied the similarities and differences between belief of Totem and making Totem in point of view of players and supporters. It will be discussed magical connection, is set up between the attitude of making Totem and the result of matches in those examples that were mentioned. 
Keywords: Totemism, Totem, Making Totem, Good-luck, Bad-luck Football

The Trans-temporal and Trans-spatial Contexts of “Sadae", “Kyorin", and “Sojunghwa" as the Historical Frameworks of Modern Korean Historiography


Chong, Da-ham


Since the liberation, ROK historians have depicted the history of the Korean peninsula as that of an already-always, bordered territorial entity, evolving in a continuous linear progression into the modern nation-state. This paper seeks to challenge conventional nationalist Korean historiography and the territorialized imaginary and Confucian civilizational bias that support it, and to elucidate the complex and dynamic historical relationships between the peoples and states inhabiting this geographical space. I do so through scrutinizing South Korean historiography on the early Joseon period, analyzing the ways in which the models of political, economic, cultural and military interaction between Joseon and its neighbors inhabiting its peripheral spaces have been reinterpreted in modern times to underpin the dominant nationalist paradigm and the boundaries of Korean-ness it polices. South Korean historiography has constructed a model of the Northeast Asian region based on a Neo-Confucian hierarchy and conceptual dichotomy between “civilized” center and “barbarian” periphery, which has been combined with contemporary understandings of the nation-state. Through this process, these dogmatic frameworks, so called Sadae(事大; 사대) and Kyorin(交隣; 교린) that relegate the complex web of dynamic relationality between early Joseon and its neighbors to a fixed hierarchy based on Confucian civilizational biases, have been established and they are still dominating South Korean historiography. By providing a new trans-temporal and trans-spatial approach based on transnational perspective which enables us to profoundly understand how South Korean historiography re-appropriated traditional Confucian civilizational paradigm early Joseon dynasty had appropriated from Ming under the hegemony of U.S. in late 20th century, I assert such frameworks which have substantialized hierarchical set of the relations among Ming, Jurchen, Joseon, Tsushima, Muromachi Bakufu are the invention of South Korean nationalist Historiography, and have categorically denied the fluidity of spaces and peoples.

Jan Hus as a proto-communist
The reconstruction of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague and the construction of
nationaltraditions in Czechoslovakia after World War ll
After the communist takeover in February 1948, Czechoslovak public space began to
be filled with references to progressive national history especially the Hussite tradition.
Interpreted as spanning history from the fifteenth century until the Communist coup, it
provided historical justification for the communist project - for by adopting the mantle
of the Hussite tradition, the Communist government joined the current of national
history and presented the socialist transformation of Czechoslovakia as part of the Czech
nation's historical development. The Hussite tradition was employed in the creation of
the Czechoslovak territorial conception and the revolutionary topography ofthe Czechoslovak
area, where it made czechoslovakia a stage for revolutionary struggles. An
example of this is post-waq post-February Prague, which was intended to be a socialist
ciý where current memories were recoded in favour of the Communist dictatorship. In
its public space, historical events and processes supporting the legitimacy of Communist
power were commemorated - and the rebuilding of Bethlehem Chapel is a key
example of this. The original chapel had been built in 1391*94 as a religious building
where serrnons were only to be delivered in czech. From 1402 to 1413, the preacher
there was Jan Hus, who was considered the founder of the revolutionary Hussite movement
by the Communist regime. After passing to the Jesuits, who in tum were expelled,
in 1786 the dilapidated chapel was demolished, to be replaced a few years later by a
new tenement block. The reconstruction of Bethlehem Chapel was ordered by the
Communist govemment in 1948 and welcomed by both the political elite and the general
public. Featuring references to Jan Hus, the chapel was presented as the cradle of
Czechrevolutionary traditions. It was opened to the public in 1954.

Marostica is universally known today as the city of the chess tournament, but this identification is the result of the curious and happy invention of a tradition, originated in the early '50s of the twentieth century. The popularity living of the Partita a scacchi enjoyed since the first edition, is to be sought in the interplay of different factors: the revalutation of an exceptional archaeological heritage consisting of two castles placed in a village surrounded by medieval walls; the creation of a charming story, set in 1454, interwoven with elements of probability, such as a duel of love made up by a theatre director, the architect of Dalmatian origin Mirko Vucetich; the involvement of most of Marostica citizen which consider this event a ritual, a visiting card and a form of business. The consequences that the famous Partita has conveyed in the Venetian landscape, primarily folk, but also social and political, were, in part, unexpected. It is certain that this event contributed in a decisive way, to revive the tradition of the Venetian Republic, carrying it outside the academic and elitist circles. Moreover it was of crucial importance in interpreting the myth of Venice: the fantastic figure of the mayor Taddeo Parisio embodies all the characteristics that, in popular belief, are typical of the Venetian Republic. A power that, while consolidating the stato da terra, respected the ancient traditions and the political balance, preserving an idea of identity.

According to the conventional construction of the religious history of the Roman Empire, the dense variety of Greek and Roman religions had ceased to exist sometime around the fourth to fifth centuries CE, during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. Certainly, at some point in Late Antiquity, there were no longer functioning cult centres for deities like Apollo, Dionysus, Isis, Cybele, and the like. However, far from indicating the triumphal supersession of Greek and Roman religions by Christianity, the evidence of religious history is more complex. Christianity/ies is, one can say, an epiphenomenon of processes of cultural shifts and demographic changes (helped along by the changes wrought by migrations and the emergence of diasporic religions as the main manifestation of cultic formations) that swept the circum-Mediterranean world. The "old religions," woven into the cultural fabric of inhabitants of the Mediterranean world as they were, did not suddenly cease to exist-the discourses, the practices, the iconographies, cultic performances continued to shape nascent Christian discourses and practices. This process was not an even one, it differed in pace and shape from one geographic locale to the other, and from one epoch to the other-therefore the plural, twilights. Hence one can say that Christianity was the big sponge that absorbed all the others (which does not exclude that from time to time there were indeed legislation and mob action aimed at destroying the vestiges of "pagan" cults). Thus, reading the evidence from outside the triumphalist framework characterising early Christian writers on the nature and fate of "paganism," one is left with the unavoidable impression, now strongly asserted in Late Antique scholarship, of the interpenetration of "paganism" and Christianity. Christianity was born as a syncretic phenomenon in a process of cultural bricolage. This has some implications, not only for how we conceived of the origins of Christianity, but also for how we conceive of religion as object of theoretical reflection. Twilights of Greek and Roman Religions: Afterlives and Transformations Gerhard van den Heever,

As two of the most romanticized symbols of traditional Japan, samurai and castles feature prominently in popular culture and tourist promotions, and serve as important markers of both regional and national identities. In spite of their ancient roots, popular images of both samurai and castles were largely formed during and after the late nineteenth century. Bringing together themes from my recent book, Inventing the Way of the Samurai, and my current research project on Japanese castles, this talk explores the modern origins of some of Japan’s most famous traditions, and how these were shaped by domestic and international agendas.

After 1868, samurai and castles faced the new Meiji order as relics of the discredited old regime. Viewed as backward and “feudal” in an age of “civilization and enlightenment,” samurai and castles suffered similar fates in the 1870s and 1880s as victims of popular apathy and even resentment. The eventual rehabilitation of the popular image of the samurai was a long and complicated process. Influenced by Western, especially Victorian, ideals of gentlemanship and medieval chivalry, a number of Japanese thinkers proposed similar moral guidelines for the new Japan. The “way of the samurai,” or bushidō, that emerged from this discourse rapidly gained in popularity after victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, and was soon widely portrayed as an ancient ethic and even the very “soul of Japan.”

This talk will explore the development of bushidō in modern Japan, comparing the ideological “revival” of the samurai spirit with the growing appreciation for castles, as efforts increased to “save” both of these “national symbols” in an era of growing national strength and confidence. The talk will further consider parallels in their subsequent histories up to the present day.

Since its expansion beyond the sphere of language and text, translation has become an important analytical category in the humanities and social sciences. Has translation in the process of crossing various disciplines become a "travelling concept“ in the sense of Mieke Bal? Has it in its transdisciplinary and transcultural dissemination developed into a fruitful category of transformation and management of differences? So far translation has been treated mainly as a spatial model of overlapping, hybridization and the creation of in-between-spaces. The temporal dimension of translation, however, has been rather neglected. This article is a plea to reflect translation across time by asking more precisely how translation relates to the "distant past“ or the past in general, to temporal processes and historical periods. Ranging from studies of antiquity to postcolonial studies the question of translation and translatability of the past will be elaborated here by emphasizing translation as an effective tool of historiography, but also as a historical practice itself. In dealing with historiographic examples but also with the work of artists such as historical assemblages and fragments a new conception of translation across time comes to the fore: translation as a cultural technique not of bridging, but of connecting through gaps and ruptures, translation as making juxtapositions and translation as repair. In the end the question remains whether translation could be seen as a “travelling concept“ which in itself seems to be subject to translation processes. 

Key words: translation, travelling concepts, antiquity, invention of tradition, assemblages, translation as repair, Kader Attia
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German Abstract:
Die Kategorie der Übersetzung ist seit ihrer Ausweitung über Sprach- und Textübersetzung hinaus zu einer wichtigen Analysekategorie in den Geistes-, Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften geworden. Im Beitrag wird gefragt, inwieweit Übersetzung beim Durchqueren der unterschiedlichsten Disziplinen zu einem „travelling concept“ (im Sinn von Mieke Bal) geworden ist, das gegenwärtig nicht nur transdisziplinär, sondern auch transkulturell eine weite Verbreitung erfährt: als eine wichtige Kategorie der Transformation und des Umgangs mit Differenzen. Wenn Translation in diesem Zusammenhang geradezu als ein räumliches Modell der Überlagerung, Hybridisierung und Herausbildung von Zwischenräumen wirksam wird – ist dann die zeitliche Komponente eher verdrängt worden? Mit der noch zu wenig behandelten Frage der Übersetzung und Übersetzbarkeit von Vergangenheiten, die im Beitrag ausgehend von den Altertumswissenschaften bis hin zu postkolonialen Kontexten reflektiert werden soll, wird hier explizit die zeitliche Dimension ins Spiel gebracht: Übersetzung über historische Zeiten hinweg – als eine oft Epochengrenzen unterlaufende historiographische Praxis, aber auch als eine Praxis im Geschichtsprozess selbst, welche Rückbezüge auf Vergangenes nutzt, um Neues daran anschließbar zu machen oder zu legitimieren. Am Ende stellt sich die Frage, ob Translation wirklich noch ein „travelling concept“ verkörpert, wenn dieses doch selbst Übersetzungsvorgängen unterliegt.

Key words: Übersetzung, travelling concepts, Antikenübersetzung, erfundene Tradition, Assemblagen, Übersetzung als Reparatur/Reparation, Kader Attia

Hoy más que nunca, el período medieval se presenta como un filón del que extraer modelos, ejemplos e identidades para entender el mundo actual. Desde la supuesta nueva cruzada entre el Islam y Occidente, pasando por los cuentos de hadas y el tradicionalismo católico, el mercado turístico de las ferias «medievales» y el terrorista Breivik «el templario», un viaje apasionante por nuestro Medievo contemporáneo.
Caracterizado como los «siglos oscuros», el Medievo se utiliza como un modelo perfecto para explicar a los «nuevos bárbaros», «el choque de civilizaciones» y el terror que produce que nuestro mundo esté próximo a acabarse. Cuando se lo considera, en cambio, como un tiempo de caballeros y de orígenes heroicos, el Medievo asume en la actualidad una funcion mítica para muchos grupos políticos y comunidades, que lo utilizan para afirmar su identidad original.
Esta actualización de la Edad Media, a menudo una «tradición inventada», se presenta bajo el nombre de medievalismo. Su análisis es una herramienta nueva para observar la sociedad contemporánea y las direcciones que está tomando.

Monografia sa venuje významnej téme slovenskej historiografie – obrazu veľkej Moravy v prvej polovici 19. storočia u generácie Všeslávie. Prináša definíciu tejto generácie ako aj aspekty dobového formovania moderného národa, súhrn práce pre národ, kde významnú úlohu zohrávalo aj zobrazenie a uchopenie obrazov minulosti. Predstavuje tému Veľkej Moravy a veľkomoravskej tradície v uhorskej a slovenskej historiografii od počiatkov po začiatok 19. storočia. Podrobne sa zameriava na faktografiu a symboliku Veľkej Moravy v prácach Jána Hollého, Jána Kollára a Pavla Jozefa Šafárika. Prináša vhľad do ich najdôležitejších prác pre historizmus a historiografiu a snaží sa osvetliť ich prepojenie s nacionalizmom, romantizmom a formovaním moderného národa. Analýza odhalila, že hlavné smerovanie predstavovaných informácií o slovanskej ríši bolo pozitívne. Všetci učenci verili v úzke prepojenie medzi udalosťami 9. storočia a územím Slovenska či priamo so Slovákmi. Obraz Veľkej Moravy sa menil od slovenského kráľovstva k poslednej všeslovanskej ríši. Využívali obdobnú heuristickú bázu a preukázali značné znalosti rôznych prameňov a sekundárnej literatúry. Rozdiely sú viditeľné hlavne v množstve a kvalite textov, pretože odkazy v Kollárových prácach sú útržkovité, Hollý napísal iba niekoľko prác a komentárov, Šafárik ponúkol niekoľkonásobne rozsiahlejší a komplexnejších výklad. Skutočnosť, že v prípade Hollého a Kollára išlo hlavne o umelecké texty, kým u Šafárika (a čiastočne i Kollára a Hollého) o exaktnú historiografiu, v dobovom vnímaní znamenala nie kvalitatívny problém, ale možnosť širšieho pôsobenie nastolených téz.