苗族传统生态知识的演变——杨庭硕教授访谈录

An Interview with Prof. Yang Tingshuo on the Evolution of Traditional Miao Ecological Knowledge

中国生态人类学从20世纪90年代初逐步兴起,目前国内已经涌现了不少优秀的学者。一些学者对地方族群的传统生态知识有着详实而深入的考察,为传统知识的传承和抢救作出了非常重要的贡献。杨庭硕教授是国内最早从事生态人类学研究的学者之一,他从苗族的支系文化差异切入到生态人类学的研究,在贵州喀斯特山区作了大量的传统生态知识与技术调查,挖掘了当地丰富的民族生态知识。之后他又立足全国视野,筹备进行中国东、中、西不同区域文化生态系统的比较研究,力图构建"百科全书式"的文化生态信息库。本次访谈聚焦于杨教授早期对喀斯特山区的苗族传统生态知识与技术的探讨,以及这些传统生态知识所遭遇的误读和流变。杨庭硕教授指出,生态系统和人类社会是两个不同逻辑的体系,有着各自的运行规律,要协调好二者之间的关系,需要借助于千百年来民族世代积累的地方性生态知识。地方性生态知识犹如中国社会的一道生态安全屏障,具有不容忽视的价值。他还形象地举例说明自己的调查过程,告诉我们:生态人类学的学科方法,是以人类学、民族学的方法为基准,借助于其他多种学科方法进行交流、整合。他让我们更好地领悟到生态人类学的学科魅力。

There have been a large number of outstanding scholars in the field of Chinese ecological anthropology since its rise in the early 1990 s. Prof. Yang Tingshuo, one of the first scholars on ecological anthropology, began his research by examining the cultural differences between branches of the Miao Nationality. He made a lot of investigations of traditional Miao ecological knowledge and technology in Guizhou karst areas and unveiled the rich local ethnic ecological knowledge. Then he broadened his research horizon to the whole country, preparing for a comparative study of the cultural ecological systems in different regions of East, Middle and West China to build an encyclopedia-like information database of cultural ecology. This interview focused on Prof. Yang's early research on the traditional Miao ecological knowledge and technology in karst areas. In order to help us to better appreciate the discipline charm of ecological anthropology,Prof. Yang illustrated his investigation process vividly and talked about how to conduct ecological anthropology research in an interdisciplinary way.