Original version

BBC World Service Online

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

The Forum: 02/06/2012 GMT

Discussion & Talk

02/06/2012 GMT

BBC World Service - The Forum, 02/06/2012 GMT

A useful springboard or an unnecessary hindrance?

What, in 2012, is the purpose of tradition and convention: in politics, art and in language?

As Britain celebrates The Diamond Jubilee - 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II's rule - the Forum takes a look at the role of tradition in the 21st Century. 

How important is it? Not just in linking us to our collective past but in helping to forge the future, especially in the countries now in the midst of the Arab Spring? 

And what happens in an ancient culture whose language has no way of describing the past? How does art challenge complacency by subverting tradition? 

Bridget Kendall's guests are the award winning British artist Grayson Perry, anthropologist and expert on Amazonian languages Dan Everett, and the Islamic philosopher Tariq Ramadan.

Illustration by Emily Kasriel: communicating the meaning of tradition through tapestry.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

02/06/2012 GMT

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service