“Transculturalism”溯源:西方学术语境及中文翻译辨析

On the Origin of Transculturalism:A Study Into the Western Academic Context and its Chinese Translation

Transcultualism一词常被用来描述全球化下日益复杂的跨文化现象,在当前中国国际传播/跨文化传播研究领域常被使用,并且已被学界普遍接受。但是,研究者对这个概念有不同的理解,因而产生了不同的中文翻译,比如“跨文化”“超越文化”“转文化”等。究竟应该如何深刻理解“transculturalism”一词的本质特征,辨析其在不同语境下的内涵与意义?本文旨在分析transcultualism一词在西方学术语境中的来龙去脉,以更加全面深入地理解和把握该词的内涵与意义。本文辨识出这个概念的三个理论脉络,并详细阐述各自的时代背景、相关概念、理论基础与核心主张,在此基础上提出对transculturalism的翻译应该充分考虑到其所勾连的学术语境。文章进一步指出,尽管侧重点不同,transculturalism所对应的三个理论脉络都体现了学者们认识到了文化的共性和关联性,尊重文化的差异性,强调文化的互通互鉴,并看到文化融合带来的新的未来。Transculturalism对我们思考、理解和分析跨文化传播具有积极的意义和价值,但其背后隐含的西方中心主义旨趣不容忽视。

The concept of transculturalism is often used to describe the increasingly complicated interactions between different cultures under the circumstances of globalization.It is also widely used in international communication/intercultural studies in China,and is often translated differently with different meanings such as“跨文化”“超越文化”“转文化”.How can we better understand the meaning of this concept in different academic contexts?This paper attempts to look into the development of the academic discourse of this term in the West so as to fully and accurately understand the connotation of transculturalism.It is found out that this term is developed as criticism of post-colonialism and that of Western cultural studies reflecting a worldview that is centered on Eurocentrism.The Chinese translation of transculturalism should accordingly vary in different academic discourses.The concept is of great significance to promote cultural equality,cultural connection and respect,cultural exchange and mutual learning.But cultural competition and western-centrism embedded in Welsch’s definition of transculturalism(超文化主义)is worthy of attention.