从中国彝族的认同谈族体理论——与郝瑞(Stevan Harrell)教授商榷

An Approach to the Ethnic Theory from the Identity of the Yi Nationality: A Discussion with Prof.Stevan Harrel

近来美国学者郝瑞以四川攀枝花几个彝族支系为例，对中国彝族的认同提出质疑，认为这不符合“族群”的概念，因此彝族的“聚拢”带有任意性。他还从“民族”与“族群”两个概念出发，认为中国并无“族群”概念。本文认为，彝族虽然支系众多，但历来即有认同，新中国的民族识别只是加强了彝族整体的认同性；“民族”与“族群”的概念确有差别，我国以往在翻译和使用上曾将其混用，造成误解，这一问题现已不存在；必须充分利用中国的民族志资料构建族体理论。

Not long ago Stevan Harrell, an American anthropologist, called in question the identity of the Yi nationality through his fieldwork in some sub-groups of the Yi people in Panzhihua, Sichuan Province. Theiy conditions, according to him, do not accord with the concept of ethnic group, and thus the gathering of the Yi nationality is arbitrary in his opinion. Furthermore, from the two concepts of nationality and ethnic group, he suggested that there is no concept like ethnic group in China. This paper holds that, despite of the existence of various sub-groups, the Yi people have always had a sense of identity within them, and the identification work conducted in New China only strengthened the identity sense of the Yi as a whole. Indeed, there are some differences between nationality and ethnic group, and the previous mixing up of the two concepts in translation and application did result in some misunderstanding. However, this problem is no longer in existence. In addition, ethnographical material in China must be fully applied in the construction of ethnic theory.