皇家地理学会与近代英帝国的西藏知识生产

The Royal Geographical Society and Production of Knowledge about Tibet in British Empire

近代英国的涉藏史不只是单纯的军事政治过程,还是持久广泛的知识生产和文化传播过程。皇家地理学会是英国进行西藏知识生产的关键性科学机构,通过与英印政府及其西藏圈的合作,它在西藏信息的收集、交换、传播、评价和监控等方面都扮演了极其重要的角色。学会与负责西藏事务的骨干官员们一起构成了英帝国西藏知识生产体系的“硬核”。从19世纪末开始,学会的活动和指导思想与英国在喜马拉雅的殖民事业紧密联系在一起。英国一些负责西藏事务的官员加入了学会,有些进入领导层,实现了从殖民官员到西藏专家的身份转换。皇家地理学会的西藏探险和研究带有殖民时代的深刻烙印,它在客观地研究和认识西藏的同时,又与帝国殖民机构相配合,不断地封锁、虚构和神话化西藏。

The Royal Geographical Society(RGS)was vital to the production of knowledge about Tibet in British empire,as wall as playing a significant role in the intelligence service respecting Tibet.RGS went together with Britain's colonialization of Himalayas at the close of the nineteenth century.In RGS there were even the colonialist-turned-Tibetologists taking a leading role.RGS,working in with the colonial agencies,made incessant effort to blockade,falsify,and mythologize Tibet,even though it did produce some objective information about Tibet.