美国印第安人的自我叙事传统与当代印第安自传

Native American Self-Narration and the Sense of Community in Contemporary Native American Autobiographies

美国印第安人具有悠久的自我叙事传统,这一传统与以个体为中心的西方白人自传的本质区别是,以印第安群体意识为基调,聚焦于融入部族群体的个体,以个体经历体现部族群体诉求。在早期印第安口头自我叙事中,群体意识主要体现在以维系或加强亲缘关系、获得群体承认与赞许作为自我叙事的目的;在过渡阶段书面印第安自传中,群体意识更多地表现为对白人殖民的揭露和对部族群体文化与精神传统的怀念;而在当代印第安自传中,群体意识依然似一条红线贯穿始终。以莫马迪为代表的当代印第安自传撰写者们从印第安群体意识出发,一方面谴责白人殖民施加于印第安群体的种族和文化灭绝,表达对印第安群体命运的深切关注,另一方面主动承担起弘扬印第安传统文化的责任,着力表现自己以及其他部族成员如何通过对部族神话与历史的追忆回归部族传统信仰,实现群体之中的自我身份构建。

Native Americans have a long-standing tradition of self-narration which differs fundamentally from white autobiography that centers on the individual.With a sense of community as its primary concern, Native American self-narration stresses the integration of the individual into the community and voices community interests and demands through narratives of personal experience. In early Native American self-narrations, the sense of community is in accord with the common aspiration to maintain or strengthen tribal interconnection and to obtain community recognition and praise. In Native American autobiographies written during the transitional period, the sense of community manifestes itself more in exposure of white colonization and nostalgia for cultural and spiritual traditions of the tribe. In expressing a shared sense of community, contemporary Native American autobiographers condemn the genocide of Native Americans by white colonists and articulate intense concerns about the destiny of Native American communities. They also shoulder the responsibility of advocating Native American culture and devotedly explore how to re-embrace traditional faith and reconstruct self-identity within the community.