“历史的民族志”视野中的仪式展演——评《帝国隐喻—中国民间宗教》

The Ritual Performance from the Perspective of Historical Ethnography:Comment of The Imperial Metaphor-Popular Religion in China

"历史的民族志"不是简单的,碎片化的历史史实的堆积,而是解释行为主体怎样从历史史实中,人为主观地选择、表达和建构的。而仪式是"历史的民族志"最活跃的元素之一。仪式既能突出这一文化事象内涵中的历史痕迹,向人们展现其承载的历史底蕴,又能解释"历史活在当下"在其中的具体体现,强调在社会变迁中人们在仪式演进中的能动性。

Historical ethnography is not the accumulation of some simple, fractional historical facts, but explains the process how the historical facts are subjectively chosen, expressed and constructed. The rite is one of most acfive elements in historical ethnography, which not only explores the historical vestige of the rite, showing the background of history, but also explains the ritual representation of ＂history living at the present＂, emphasizing the initiative in ritual evolution according to social changes.