后殖民语境中启蒙与文化认同的张力——以叶维廉为中心

The Tension between the Enlightenment and Cultural Identity in Postcolonial Context: with Wai-lim Yip as a Focus

启蒙所要求的对自我意识和主体性的觉醒,在中国五四以来的启蒙里强烈地表现出对传统的批判,甚至是通过批判传统而达到现代性。但这种启蒙造成了近代中国文化主体的失落,导致一种文化的"虚位",这就使得中国丧失了自身的主体性。五四以来的启蒙导致的中国主体性丧失的后果在后殖民的香港和台湾,首先被人文知识分子所深刻地体验。有鉴于此,叶维廉认为,在香港殖民文化统治下,对中国文化的认同能够让殖民地下的人民真正意识到自己的文化身份,实现民族觉醒;文化认同能够促使对自身殖民文化限制的反思,文化认同由此具有启蒙的功能。因此,在后殖民语境中,中国传统文化由五四时代作为启蒙批判的对象,成为文化启蒙的主体。后殖民的启蒙要以传统文化重新找回自身的主体性。

The awakening of self - consciousness and subjectivity resulted from the enlightenment demonstrates in the May 4th Movement as a radical criticism on tradition, and this criticism itself becomes a means to modernity. The enlightenment also re- sulted in the loss of Chinese cultural suhjecthood, the consequence of which was felt strong in the post - colonial Taiwan and Hang Kong first. Among the intellectuals under the colonial culture, Wai - lim Yip believes that identification with Chinese cul- ture in Hong Kong may reinstall the cultural identity of the colonized people and establish national identity. Identification with Chinese culture may prompt reflection on the constraints of the colonial culture, and therefore it can also perform the function of enlightenment. In the post - colonial context, traditional Chinese culture turns from the object of criticism in the May 4th Move- ment to the subject of cultural enlightenment, and the primary objective of post - colonial enlightenment is to retrieve the subject- hood of the traditional euhure.