女性史研究的独特方法--格尔达·勒纳的社会性别解释方法探析

A Unique Approach to Women's History: A Study of Gerda Lerner's Analysis of Gender

格尔达·勒纳是美国女性主义史学的开创者,也是美国黑人女性史研究的奠基人。她率先明确提出,女性史需要自己独特的研究方法,并努力为之构建社会性别的解释方法。她的解释方法可具体化为解构法,整体法和多维综合法。社会性别解释方法冲破了语言、观念对女性史研究的桎梏,将女性作为一个独立的整体侧重研究其共性,也将女性作为复杂社会关系中的个体阐释女性间的差异性,并希冀从中探寻两性的普遍史。尽管勒纳的社会性别解释方法的前提存在一定的局限性,但它仍是女性史解释的有效方法,并前瞻性地指明了女性史研究的发展方向。

Gerda Lerner is one of the founders of US women's history as well as of African-American women's history. She is also the first historian who argues that women's history needs its own methods and tries to introduce gender as a category to interpret history. Her analysis of gender is deconstructive,holistic as well as multi-dimensional. The use of gender is of help to break out of the linguistic and conceptual constraints on women's history. It helps historians to see women as an independent entity with shared commonality.Meanwhile,it also draws attention to diverse experiences of women by placing them in social and gender relations and demonstrate the general characteristics of gender history. The premise of Lerner's analysis of gender seems to have some inherent problems. But her approach remains quite effective in studying women's history; to some extent,it also points to the future direction of the field.