文字VS图像—兼谈视觉人类学的边缘性

Words vs. Pictures ——With Special Reference to the Marginality of Visual Anthropology

以现代科学工业技术为基础的“读图时代”的到来,使得文字的霸主地位遭受严峻挑战;不过,迄今为止,对于人类学的学科建设、理论和方法的创新来说,声像手段还只是起到补充文章的作用。视觉人类学对反省人类学具有积极意义,但由于其自身的局限,它在学科里的地位仍将注定处于边缘。

With the arrival of “the picture-reading era” which is based on modern science and industrial technology, the hegemonic role of words is severely challenged. Nevertheless, audio-visual means have so far been playing a complementary role in the development of anthropology and its innovation of theories and methods. Although visual anthropology may be important to the rethinking of anthropology, its disciplinary status is doomed to be marginal due to its own limitations.