中国文化人类学的话语转向

The Discourse Turn in the Study of the Chinese Cultural Anthropology

以语言为视角的后现代思想曾对当代社会科学,包括文化人类学产生过重要影响,促成了文化人类学的话语学转向,并带来对西方普世文化价值观的批判。面对话语学转向,我国文化人类学研究应该跳出西方表征话语,找到能与自身传统对接的文化叙述方式。孔子寻礼应该被理解为一种人类学实践,而《春秋》、《史记》等古典文本提供了"发微探幽"、"言不尽意"的文化叙述方式。这些叙事风格不是将文化描述成知识和概念,而是把最深刻的含义留给读者阐释,最大限度地回避语言带来的表征意义,体现"道不可道"的语言哲学思想。这种叙述方式让我们在浙江省富阳市东坞山村文化研究中,挖掘出了被现代性话语掩盖了的东西,并且让叙述对村落文化发展产生了"微言大义"的影响,即在不露声色的平淡叙述中改变村民对身边传统文化的误读,重新思考村落发展方向。与传统对接的人类学研究避免了中国文化在表述过程中走样,使其人类学的含义以原生态面貌展现在世界舞台上。

The post-modernist social science which is known view on language has made a as ＂linguistic/discourse turn＂. great impact on the contemporary This turn has been challenging the fundamentalassumption of Western universalism, which sees implicitly or explicitly language as faithful representation of cultural phenomena, and offers concepts and theories as facts and truth, without considering historical and cultural particularity. The paper seeks to develop an alternative narrative paradigm of doing anthropology in China, by drawing upon the Chinese tradition of discourse strategies, particularly that of Con{ucianism. The well-known Chinese classics such as The Spring and Autumn Annals, and The Records of the Great Historian and so on have set a good paradigm of narration capable for Geertz＇s concept of ＂thick description＂. The underlying meanings of cultural behavior are described in a veiled way,but hitting the heart transparently. This mode of discourse makes the deep meaning not fully expressible in abstract terms,thus successfully avoiding the violations of Representativism. Any simple mentioning of small details implies a profound meaning not in terms of judgment and truth,but as an elucidation for understanding. In this way,the essence of culture is conveyed in a non-essentialist discourse. The principle of discourse could be articulated in Lao Zi＇s philosophical maxim that ＂Tao that can be described is not universal and eternal Tao＂. A project is also presented which, by applying the traditional discourse of ethnography, investigates the living culture of a Chinese village （Dongwushan）, located in the suburbs of Hangzhou City,Zhejiang Province. The approach helps to uncover the indigenous cultures which have been buried and silenced by modern representation of Chinese culture. Meanwhile through the subtle description of the cultural fragments, the village is found under a transformation for traditional cultural revival. The study thus makes a case of Chinese approach to ethnographic study, which points to a possibility of ＂thick description＂ with which Chinese culture unfolds itself to the world in an authentic and elucidative way.