田野工作与“行动者取向的人类学”:巴特及其学术遗产

Fredrik Barth and His academic Heritage:Toward an Understanding of“the Actor-Oriented Anthropology”

弗雷德里克·巴特作为一位有着深厚功力的田野工作者,对田野工作的性质和方法论有着独特的见解。田野于他不仅是收集资料的场域,而且还是验证各种定说和相关假设的场所。在研究取向上,巴特与同时代的人类学家有着很大的不同。与当时强调社会结构或者文化整体运作的人类学常规范式不同,巴特关注的是个人的实践和选择,即个人如何谋求行动最大化。他承认规范与常规约束以及结构的存在,人们也受到这些制度的限制,但他相信,社会动力来自社会中的个体。结构对个体的限制是存在的,但社会成员懂得如何在规范和约束当中做出选择,尽管这些选择必须受到地方具体条件限制和一定的文化制约。巴特这样的研究取向被称为“行动者取向的人类学”。人类学成就了巴特,但从方法论创新的角度而言,巴特也在一定程度上成就了人类学。

Fredrik Barth’s career is productive and colorful.As an experienced fieldworker he had unique understanding with regard to the methodology of the fieldwork.To him,not only is a field a site for collecting data but also it is a field for testing relevant hypotheses and theories that have been established.As an anthropologist Barth took an approach much different from what most of anthropologists of his generation had taken.Different from the conventional paradigm of anthropology emphasizing social structure or how a culture is working as a whole,what concerned Barth are individual practice and choice of maximization of individual action.He agreed with that rules,regulations,and structures exist and people are limited by these institutions,but social members know how to negotiate with them,albeit the fact that their negotiations have to be limited by specific conditions of the locale and constrained by certain cultural regulations.This research approach of Barth has been called“the actor-oriented anthropology.”Anthropology has made Barth.From a view of methodological innovation,however,anthropology is to a certain degree made by Barth as well.