田野中的身体:作为身体实践的田野作业

The Body in the Field: Fieldwork as an Embodied Practice

田野作业对民族志工作者来说本身即是一种具身性实践。田野作业虽然从一开始就意味着调查者身体的在场,但早期的参与观察对客观性的追求遮蔽了调查者与调查过程中的主观性及研究者身份角色对调查的根本影响。通过把田野作业的方法和理论放入美国民俗学20世纪表演转型及其后的学术史脉络,可以发现田野作业方法变化中不同的身体在场方式如何与学科理论与方法论的变迁深刻关联,甚至与表演转型互为因果、相辅相成。从采风式搜集到参与式融入,田野作业对于学科方法论具有多方面的价值与意义。

Fieldwork is an embodied practice for fieldworkers. Early ethnographic theory of participant observation obscures not only the fact of the actual presence of the body of the fieldworker, but the so-called objectivity is based upon the subjectivity of the fieldworker and the field process. Examining theories and methodologies of fieldwork in the history of American folklore studies after the performance paradigm shift in the past century, this paper delineates how different ways of presence of the body are related to theoretical and methodological transformations in the discipline, especially how they shape and are shaped by the performance-centered approach. From transient collecting to involved participant, I further explore the potential and meaning of fieldwork for the discipline of folklore studies in general.