In their study of social practices deemed traditional, scholars tend to
use the concept and idea of tradition as an element of meaning in the
practices under investigation. But just whose meaning is it? Is it a
meaning generated by those who study tradition or those whose traditions
are being studied? In both cases, particular criteria for traditionality
are employed, whether these are explicated or not. Individuals and
groups will no doubt continue to uphold their traditional practices or
refer to their practices as traditional. While they are in no way
obliged to explicate in analytical terms their criteria for
traditionality, the same cannot be said for those who make the study of
traditions their profession. In scholarly analysis, traditions need to
be explained instead of used as explanations for apparent repetitions
and replications or symbolic linking in social practice, values,
history, and heritage politics. This book takes a closer look at
'tradition' and 'folklore' in order to conceptualize them within
discourses on modernity and modernism. The first section discusses
'modern' and 'traditional' as modern concepts and the study of folklore
as a modern trajectory. The underlying tenet here is that non-modernity
cannot be represented without modern mediation, which therefore makes
the representations of non-modernity epistemologically modern. The
second section focuses on the nation-state of Finland and the
nationalistic use of folk traditions in the discursive production of
Finnish modernity and its Others. The insights are applicable worldwide
in discussions on cultural representation.
