Invented traditions use claims of continuity with the past to inculcate norms.

Evidence

54 Hobsbawm defi “invented tradition” as a “set ofpractices, normally govern by overtly or tacitlv accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behavior by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past” (1983, 1) . Invented traditions, in this view, use history to authenticate actions and claims, and to cement “group cohesion” (Hobsbawm 1983 , 12 ). — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 810

Categorization

• DEFINE: Hobsbawm’s canonical definition of ‘invented tradition’ — the foil for Mahmood’s discursive-formation alternative in this chapter.
• XREF: Presents the strict constructivist view the reader will pit against substantive practice-based tradition accounts; also relevant to the author’s prior work on authenticity as rhetorical cover. — connects to: Institutions persist by making analogies that make their practices appear natural. — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 70; Commons are reinvented historical practices that villagers legitimize through analogies to past traditions. — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 83; Many honored traditions were invented recently for commercial reasons — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 649 (+2 more)