捉箐鸡——一项兼有历史记忆与经济意涵的苗族狩猎游戏

Capturing a Bird:A Hunting Game with Historical Memory and Economic Meaning of The Miao Minority

位于云南昆明西北部的芭蕉箐是一个全民信仰基督教的苗族聚居村,至今仍保持着"捉箐鸡"这样一种古老的狩猎游戏。作为一项娱乐活动,"捉箐鸡"重构了苗族的历史记忆,唤起其内心的原生情感,共享苗族身份。同时,即使是这样一个看似封闭的山区民族,仍被卷入了市场经济体系之中,在这供需体系中,汉族与苗族的结构性差异凸显。

Bajiaoqing, the primary field site for my research, located to the northwestern of Kunming, Yunnan Province, is a Miao village on the mountain top. There remains an ancient hunting game--capturing the Chrysolophus amherstiae. This essay is an ethnographic inquiry into the interface between historical memory and ethnic relations with an analytical focus on the game of capturing the Chrysolophus amherstiae in time and space dimensions. By ways of a ＂thick description＂ of the process, I attempt to make sense of the logical underpinnings of the game. As a form of entertain- ment, capturing the Chrysolophus amherstiae is a cultural practice which has provided the indigenous people ways of reconstructing historical memory with reawakening primordial feelings and a shared Miao identity. In a system of supply and demand, the underlying structural differences exemplified between the two ethnic groups are disturbing yet reified and justified.