族群问题三议——以藏彝走廊民族为例

Three Views Concerning the Issue of Ethnic Groups ——A Case Study of Ethnic Minority Groups in "Tibetan-Yi-Corridor

在民族史研究中,族群概念可以得到广泛的应用;民族以地缘关系为基础,"支系"不应是族群的对应范畴。族群迁徙在古代民族中是经常发生的,祖源记忆则构成族群自我认同最重要的内容之一。族群认同"可以是客观存在的,也可以是虚拟的";其共同特性"是由它本身显露的,或者是被认出来的",都是值得注意的观点。就研究族群问题而言,藏彝走廊民族提供了生动的实例。

The notion of ethnic groups can be widely applied to the research of ethnic history. The concept of minority nationalities is based on geographical relationships and the reason for regarding 'branch' as the equivalence to 'ethnic groups' seems inadequate. Besides, origin memory is one of the most important elements for self-identity as ethnic migrations frequently occur in ancient times. The author holds that the collective identity of a certain ethnic group 'can be either actual or fictitious', and the common features can be 'self-evident' or 'recognized', and both views should receive due attention. The 'Tibetan-Yi-Corridor' minority nationalities are good examples for the research of ethnic groups.