“There is, in such matters, no simple progression from ‘traditional’ to ‘modern,’ but a twisting, spasmodic, unmethodical movement which turns as often toward repossessing the emotions of the past as disowning them…. This undeniable, commonly denied, fact–that whatever the curve of progress may be, it fits no graceful formula–disables any analysis of modernization which starts from the assumption that it consists of the replacement of the indigenous and obsolescent with the imported and up-to-date. Not just in Indonesia, but throughout the Third World–throughout the world–men are increasingly drawn to a double goal: to remain themselves and to keep pace, or more, with the twentieth century” (Geertz 1973: 319-320)
Musings: I love this image of a person as twisting and spasmodic as they navigate through time. The past and future both pulling at their arms, hair, and skin, both wanting the primary spot at the table. But the human tries to appease them both, brings them together in this particular moment in time, sings them a lullaby, maybe, to ease their tormenting and to show that they can exist at once in the same place. But the mind of the human remains troubled, because the world is asking them to pick a favorite but they do not want to decide.
“Everywhere … someone is matching advanced ideas and familiar sentiments in order to make some variety of progress look less disruptive and some pattern of custom less dispensable” (Geertz 1973: 321)
The Edited Jottings of an Amateur Anthropologist 