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Tradition: Three Traditions
- Journal of Folklore Research
- Indiana University Press
- Volume 46, Number 3, September-December 2009
- pp. 233-268
- 10.2979/jfr.2009.46.3.233
- Article
- Additional Information
This article traces “tradition” as a keyword of Western modernity, circulating between general and scholarly usage and between analytic and ideological applications. After a historical overview, I identify three main orientations: tradition as a communicative transaction, tradition as a temporal ideology, and tradition as communal property. I conclude by proposing that scholars explore yet another working definition of tradition: the transfer of responsibility for a valued practice or performance.