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Summary Burke - What is cultural history?
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Samenvatting Burke – What is Cultural History?Introduction + CH1
- Cultural turn
- Defining cultural history is problematic, very broad spectrum of subjects, definitions and
methods
- History of cultural history. Four phases as made up by Burke: classic, social history of art
(1930s), discovery of the history of popular culture (1960s), new cultural history.
- Classic: 1800-1950. Ex. Huizinga Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen. Focus on classics/classic period.
Focus on connection between arts (ex.: between gothic architecture and scholasticism), art.
Art of interpretation. Symbols, culture, rituals, behaviour.
- Contributions from scholars outside of discipline. Weber, sociologists.
- Idea of cultural schemata/formulae and discussions about it.
- Iconological approach.
- During rise of Hitler, institution cultural history from Germany moves to USA, key word there
is ´civilization´. New influences. Great diaspora important subject.
- Both in USA and Britain interest in relationship between culture and society. Idea about
culture as a ´reflection of society´ (Antal). Links between culture and economics.
- Idea of popular culture originated in same time + place as German Volkskultur. But only in
the 1960s did historians start researching popular culture.
- Why did interest for popular culture amongst historian rise when it did? Internal: fixing
deviancies in earlier methods/approaches -> frame/way of researching things and people left
out earlier when culture wasn´t considered. External: rise of cultural interest with the rise of
cultural studies. Bigger picture. The international success of the movement for cultural
studies seems to show an answer to a growing demand in the 1960s.
Ch. 2
- Critical view on sources, methods, assumptions of historical cultural studies is much needed.
- Example: handling of evidence by classics. Assumptions are made based on certain sources,
but Burke is critical of the truthfulness of these statements. Sources do not provide objective
information and should be approached critically. Huizinga & Burkhardt are not always critical
towards their sources, impressionistic and/or are anecdotal.
- ´What we notice is what we are interested in or fits in with what we already believe.´ We
approach our sources biased.
- Possible solution: serial history. Analysis of a chronological series of documents. Also possible
with images. Comparison between series of books with another series books in a different
context, i.e.
- Another solution: content analysis. Pick text, count frequency of references to theme ´x´ in
text. Critical footnote: not very useful without a testable thesis. Same words carry different
meanings in different contexts. Themes may be modified by association with another.
- Another solution: discourse analysis. Pays more attention to everyday speech and verbal
schemata and literary genres and forms of narrative.
, - Marxist critic on the classics approach to culture: lacks contact with any economic and social
base, overestimation of cultural homogeneity and ignoring of cultural conflict, culture a big
and vague term that clumps everything together (Edward Thompson). Distinctions need to
be drawn (classes, gender, cultures of different generations in one society). Time-zones: not
all people exist in the same Now.
- Problematic elements of Marxist approach: tension between culturalism and economism
(focus on ideas/thought patterns vs. focus on harsh social & economic conditions). Critic on
the Marxist idea of superstructure (a rather rigid social-economic base of society).
-> Idea of cultural hegemony (Gramsci), ruling class rules through the fact that their
ideas and thoughts are accepted as authoritative by lower classes and not by direct
physical force.
But: Marxism loses important part of ideology with dismissing base and superstructure.
- Is it possible to study cultures as wholes without making false assumptions about
homogeneity? Burke -> two main answers proposed to this question: study cultural
traditions or treat learned and popular cultures as subcultures, partly connected and partly
separate, but not wholly separate and autonomous cultures.
- Paradox of tradition. Idea of culture implies idea of tradition. Knowledge & skill handed
down from generation to generation. Tradition can exist in many ways and liberates
historians from approaching a culture ass homogenous. However, there are problems: two
main problems can be called twin paradoxes of tradition.
- Apparent innovation may mask the persistence of tradition (ex.: religious thought patterns in
a largely secularized society). Synthesis of beliefs/traditions poses another difficulty.
Followers of a religion, i.e., all emphasize another part of their shared religion.
- ¨What is handed down changes in the course to a new generation.¨
- Difficulty: distinguishing between ´high´ and ´low´ culture. (Also called learned culture and
popular culture). Popular culture is a debatable term. Who are ´the people´? The assumption
that the excluded of the people are one homogenous whole is problematic. Including elite of
not in popular culture? Who are the elite? Does elite enjoy popular culture and do the
´people´ enjoy learned culture? Could very well be true, more or less money and higher
status does not equal different interests. Historians have proof of interaction between
popular and learned culture, less rigid boundaries than assumed.
- And what even is culture? Cultural history is a vague concept, used to be high culture and art
and sciences. Nowadays has expanded to ´low´ culture as well as to different artifacts and
practices (not just art and science). Influence of anthropology’s concern with everyday life in
societies -> use of term culture in a wider sense.
Ch. 3
- Most distinctive feature of cultural history 1960s-1990s is turn to anthropology. Learning
term ´culture´ in a broad sense. ´Historical anthropology/anthropological history´.
- Increasing visible interest in culture & cultural history in 1980s/1990s -> cultural turn.
Cultural turn is different in every discipline, different effects as well.
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