对黄岗侗族婚恋过程中“自由”内涵的田野实证

Empirical Fieldwork on the Implications of Freedom in Marriages of the Dong at Huanggang

婚姻是人类社会普遍存在的社会事实,也是研究民族文化不能不涉及的关键范畴。我国侗族人口众多,其"特殊"的恋爱婚姻习俗早就引起了众多研究者的关注,并形成了众多的研究成果,此前的研究结论往往以"自由"为侗族婚恋的标榜。出于正确把握前人研究结论的需要出发,通过对黄岗的田野调查获知,侗族的婚姻从恋爱对象的选择、通婚范围的宽窄到家庭生活中的角色定位、婚姻关系的解除等等,在这一系列婚恋环节中婚姻当事人都要受到本民族文化的制度性规约,制度范围内当事人享有充分的自由,制度范围外则毫无自由可言。婚姻自由本身就具有相对性,而拘泥于习惯研究者通常是将汉族的婚姻习俗作为研究侗族婚姻习俗的参比系,由此而得出的婚姻自由的结论显然不能作为描述侗族婚姻制度的依据。只有从具体的婚恋事实出发,从中剖析有关侗族婚姻的严格制度设置,才能对这一"自由"的内涵作出正确的理解。

As a widespread social reality of human society,marriage it is also an indivisible field in the study of culture.Lots of researches have been done and lots of results have been achieved about the unique marriage customs of the Dong,who have a large population.Actually emphesis has been made about the freedom of their marriage customs.In order to have a better understanding of the conclusions of previous studies,the study,based on the fieldwork at Huanggang Village leads to the conclusion that in many aspects from the choice of their love,whom to marry,the roles in family life,to the dissolution of marriages,the parties will be subject to the statute of institutional culture,which means they can enjoy full freedom within their institutional system and they will have no freedom at all out of the system.Freedom of marriage itself is relative.Researchers are usually used to sticking the marriage customs of the Han as the reference of those of the Dong,thus the conclusion of the Dong marriage freedom is clearly not the suitable basis for describing the truth of the Dong.On the basis of specific facts,the analysis of the Dong marriage system can possibly lead to the correct understanding of the mentioned freedom.