牛:一个研究西南民族社会文化的视角

COW: AN ANGLE TO STUDY THE SOCIAL CULTURE OF MINORITIES IN SOUTHWEST CHINA

牛作为一种牲畜,在人类社会发展的历史上曾扮演过重要的角色,以牛作为牵引力的农耕,是人类社会经济发展到一定水平的标志之一。而对于一些民族社会来说,牛不仅具有生产生活上的实用价值,也是宗教信仰中不可缺少的祭祀品,并作为交换媒介、娱乐工具、财富象征和民族精神气质等符号存在。从牛的视角,展现了人类社会与环境、群体及自我的互动关系。随着现代化、工业化、城镇化的发展,牛在日常生活中正渐渐退出人们的生产和生活视野,以牛为纽带建构起来的文化越来越式微,这是人类文化的退化,抑或是人类自我的忘却?本文通过对"牛"在西南民族社会中意义的探讨,试图说明人与物的动态关系,以及人对自我在自然界位置的认知。

As a kind of livestock, cow played important roles in human society in history. Agricul- ture, which used cow as pulling power, is one of the indicators that the socio - economic development rea- ches to a certain level. Yet, to some minority societies, not only cow has the pragmatic values in production and living, but it is also an indispensible sacrifice in religious beliefs as symbols of media of exchange, tools of entertainment, fortune and national spiritual ethos. Cow represents the interactive relations between hu- man society and environment and between groups and self. With the development of modernization, indus- trialization and urbanization, cow is evading from the field of vision of production and living of people＇ s everyday life. The culture bonded with the cow declines increasingly. Whether this is the decline of human culture or the oblivion of human self Through approaching the meaning of ＇ cow＇ in societies of minority nationalities in southwest, this paper intends to illustrate the dynamic relations between human being and animals as well as the recognition of the human self＇ s location in the nature.