University of California Press Golden Ages, Dark Ages: Imagining the Past in Anthropology and History

Golden Ages, Dark Ages: Imagining the Past in Anthropology and History explores how anthropologists and historians construct narratives of the past, often framing cultural differences in terms of temporal distance. This book critiques the tendency to view non-Western or "traditional" cultures as remnants of the past, arguing that such perspectives obscure the modern processes that create and redefine cultural diversity. By drawing on influential works such as Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities and Hobsbawm and Ranger's The Invention of Tradition, the authors highlight how modern traditions are often projected as ancient and authentic, serving both academic and ideological purposes. The book examines how oppositional models, like traditional versus modern or primitive versus civilized, dominate the discourse of anthropology and history. These dichotomies, the authors argue, often simplify complex realities, imposing Western categories on non-Western contexts and perpetuating a pseudohistorical understanding of cultural and social change. By critiquing such frameworks, the essays in this volume reveal how "traditional" forms are often constructed through modern social, political, and economic processes, challenging readers to reconsider assumptions about the past and its relationship to the present. The collection ultimately calls for a more nuanced understanding of cultural and historical difference, one that situates traditions within the specific contexts of their creation and transformation. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1991.