当代西方“族群”理论探析

An Exploration of the Current Western Theory of “Ethnic Group”

当代西方学术界基本同意“ethnicgroup”是指拥有名称的人们群体,它具有真实或假想的共同祖先,享有共同的历史记忆和一种或数种共同文化要素。虽然当代西方学者曾经比较普遍地将“ethnicgroup”定义为大社会中小群体或次群体,但是,目前认为“ethnicgroup”也可以是主流群体或多数群体的观点渐成主流。因此,将目前汉语的“少数民族”和“56个民族”的“民族”英译成为“ethnicgroups”是比较正确的,并且继续使用“TheStateEthnicAffairCommis-sion”来翻译“国家民族事务委员会”应该比较合适。

It is basically accepted in contemporary Western academic circles that the so-called “ethnic group” is a named human community possessing common myth s of ancestry and common historical memories and culture. Although some of Western scholars once generally treated the “ethnic group” as a sub-community in a lar ger society, more Western scholars agree to the argument that the “ethnic group” m ay also be a dominant or majority human community. Thus it will be quite correct to use “minority ethnic group” to translate the Chinese term, “[WTBX]shaoshu minzu” .