As the twentieth century draws to a close, we are learning to see the extent to which accounts and definitions of cultures are influenced by human biases and purposes, benevolent in what they include, incorporate, and validate, less so in what they exclude and demote.
Topic
How present-day biases shape national/cultural identities — and how "tradition" gets manufactured to legitimize power.
Framework
Highlight Noteworthy. The author surveys recent scholarship that exposes how cultural identities are constructed for present purposes — by both imperial and decolonizing powers — and ends by reaffirming that cultures are mixed and porous despite nationalist claims.
Main Point
National and cultural identities are not neutral facts; they are constructed by present anxieties and agendas. Imperial powers manufacture "tradition" to legitimize themselves; native cultures construct idealized precolonial pasts during decolonization. Yet, despite nationalist insistence on uniqueness, cultures are actually porous and full of "foreign" elements.
P1: Recent scholarship — biases shape cultural identities
Recent studies show present anxieties influence how we construct national identities from the cultural past. Example: Greek civilization was originally known to have African and Eastern roots, but its identity was revised in the nineteenth century to fit European cultural dominance — its African and other influences purged or hidden.
P2: "Tradition" manufactured to legitimize imperial authority
Another example: in the nineteenth century, "tradition" was manufactured and reinterpreted to support European authority over other cultures. As old institutions weakened and pressures mounted, ruling elites projected their power backward in time. In 1876, Queen Victoria was declared empress of India and celebrated in "traditional" jamborees, as if her rule were age-old custom rather than recent edict.
P3: Native cultures do it too
Similar constructions happen in native cultures during decolonization (Algerian war of independence from France: idealized images of pre-French culture). Revolutionary poets do this in independence movements elsewhere — giving adherents something to revive and admire.