美国劳工史的跨国转向及其路径

The Transnational Turn in Studies of American Labor History and Related Approaches

21世纪以来,美国劳工史出现了明显的跨国转向的趋势,其主要路径一是重新挖掘劳工史与生俱来的跨国特性,包括考察跨国联系和域外因素对于美国劳工组织和运动的影响,以及考察移民劳工在母国和移居国之间建立的跨越民族国家疆界的关系网络;二是把美利坚帝国视作一个跨国联系和互动的空间,考察这个跨国空间内复杂多样的劳动力流动、雇佣和管理机制、形式各异的控制和反抗活动,以及模糊不定的人际关系与身份认同。帝国劳工史最显著的一个特征在于,把强制劳动纳入了劳工史的研究视野,从而将工人阶级"重新概念化"。跨国转向让1960年代以来劳工史的一些重要写作传统,如坚持底层取向,重视工人的自身经验、主观感受和能动性,关注身份认同和阶级形成问题等,有了进一步拓展的可能性,但也给劳工史带来了学科边界模糊、过度现时主义等挑战。

Since the 21st century,the study of American labor history has experienced an obvious transnational turn.One of the approaches of transnational turn is to rediscover the inherent transnational characteristics of labor history,including examining the influences of transnational connections and extraterritorial factors on labor organizations and movements in the United States,and studying the tangled network established by transmigrants between their home country and immigrant country.Another approach is to revisit the American Empire as an transnational space,exploring the complex mechanisms of labor employment,management and mobility,various forms of control and resistance,and the ambiguous relationships and identities in this transnational space.One of the most striking features of the“Empire labor history”is to“reconceptualize the working class”by incorporating forced labor into the study of labor history.The transnational turn has expanded some important traditions of labor history since the 1960s,such as insisting on the perspective of bottom-up,emphasizing workers'own experiences and agency,and focusing on the issues of identity and the class formation.However,it has also brought challenges of ambiguous disciplinary boundaries and excessive presentism.