Time Maps

by Zerubavel, Eviatar

• ISBN13: 9780226981529
• ISBN10: 0226981525
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-05-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

"Time Mapsextends beyond all of the old clicheacute;s about linear, circular, and spiral patterns of historical process and provides us with models of the actual legends used to map history. It is a brilliant and elegant exercise in model building that provides new insights into some of the old questions about philosophy of history, historical narrative, and what is called straight history."-Hayden White, University of California, Santa Cruz Who were the first people to inhabit North America? Does the West Bank belong to the Arabs or the Jews? Why are racists so obsessed with origins? Is a seventh cousin still a cousin? Why do some societies name their children after dead ancestors? As Eviatar Zerubavel demonstrates inTime Maps, we cannot answer burning questions such as these without a deeper understanding of how we envision the past. In a pioneering attempt to map the structure of our collective memory, Zerubavel considers the cognitive patterns we use to organize the past in our minds and the mental strategies that help us string together unrelated events into coherent and meaningful narratives, as well as the social grammar of battles over conflicting interpretations of history. Drawing on fascinating examples that range from Hiroshima to the Holocaust, from Columbus to Lucy, and from ancient Egypt to the former Yugoslavia, Zerubavel shows how we construct historical origins; how we tie discontinuous events together into stories; how we link families and entire nations through genealogies; and how we separate distinct historical periods from one another through watersheds, such as the invention of fire or the fall of the Berlin Wall. Most people think the Roman Empire ended in 476, even though it lasted another 977 years in Byzantium. Challenging such conventional wisdom,Time Mapswill be must reading for anyone interested in how the history of our world takes shape.

Author Biography

Eviatar Zerubavel is a professor of sociology at Rutgers University. He is the author of seven other books, including Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology, The Seven-Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week, and The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction The Social Structure of Memory	1	(10)
The Social Shape of the Past	11	(26)
Plotlines and Narratives	11	(3)
Progress	14	(2)
Decline	16	(2)
A Zigzag in Time	18	(2)
Ladders and Trees	20	(3)
Circles and Rhymes	23	(2)
Mountains and Valleys	25	(9)
Legato and Staccato	34	(3)
Historical Continuity	37	(18)
Same Place	40	(3)
Relics and Memorabilia	43	(2)
Imitation and Replication	45	(1)
``Same'' Time	46	(2)
Historical Analogy	48	(4)
Discursive Continuity	52	(3)
Ancestry and Descent	55	(27)
Dynasties and Pedigree	56	(7)
Common Descent	63	(3)
The Social Organization of Descent	66	(2)
The ``Family of Man''	68	(5)
Apes and Grapes	73	(4)
Language and Lineage	77	(5)
Historical Discontinuity	82	(19)
The Social Punctuation of the Past	83	(2)
Assimilation and Differentiation	85	(4)
History and Prehistory	89	(6)
The Social Construction of Historical Discontinuity	95	(6)
In the Beginnings	101	(10)
Antiquity	102	(1)
Priority	103	(8)
Notes	111	(32)
Bibliography	143	(22)
Author Index	165	(6)
Subject Index	171