特伦斯·兰杰及其非洲史研究

Terrence Ranger and His Study of African History

特伦斯·兰杰是当代著名非洲史学家,非洲史学科奠基人之一。兰杰主要关注南部非洲历史,尤其是津巴布韦史。20世纪60至70年代中期,兰杰所创立的"达累斯萨拉姆学派"是非洲民族主义史学重要流派之一;20世纪70年代后期至90年代中期,他和埃瑞克·霍布斯鲍姆提出"传统的发明"理论,推动非洲史学界展开了一场有关殖民统治与非洲社会变革之间复杂关系的讨论,极大地推动了非洲社会史研究的发展;20世纪90年代末以后,兰杰对津巴布韦等非洲国家发展遭遇挫折的历史根源做出深刻反思。兰杰的非洲史研究生涯,恰恰折射出非洲史学科半个多世纪的发展演变。

Terrence Ranger is an accomplished historian in African history. To many,he was also the founder of African history as an academic discipline. In the 1960 s and 1970 s,for example,Ranger created the renowned 'Dar es salaam School ', which became one of the most important schools in African historiography. From the 1980 s to the mid- 1990 s,Ranger and Eric Hobsbawm put forward the idea of'the invention of tradition,' precipitating hot debates among African historian about the complex relationships between the Western colonial rule and African social change. The debates helped promote and advance the study of African social history. From the late 1990 s,Ranger provided a series of reflections on the historical roots of the setbacks many African countries had encountered in their search for modernization. All in all,Ranger's career as a Historian of Africa was a microcosm of the development of African Historiography over many decades.