生态批评与“民族”——从比较的视角反思

Ecocriticism,Ethnicity,and Nationality:Reflecting from a Comparative Perspective

兴起于21世纪初的“第三波”生态批评开始关注“民族”问题。然而,以西方——特别是美国——为主导的全球生态批评话语中的“民族”产生于其自身的社会、政治、历史与文化语境,有其特定的意识形态意涵。生态批评在中国借重西方理论话语,方兴未艾。但中国语境中的“民族”在历史上有其自身的演变逻辑,在近代被强行纳入普世化的西方“民族-国家”体系,并经历社会主义实践改造,与西方有着极为复杂的关系。生态环境在此过程中发挥着独特的建构与形塑作用。本文旨在从比较的视野来厘清西方与中国生态批评话语中自然环境与民族之间的内在关联及其背后的思想形态,提出审视该议题时历史化、政治化、语境化的必要性。

The“Third Wave”of ecocriticism that emerged at the beginning of the 21st century began to attach importance to the issues of ethnicity and nationality.However,while ecocriticism is still dominated by the West,especially the U.S.,and,as a result,ethnicity and nationality have their specific ideological connotations that are determined by the social,political,historical,and cultural contexts of the West,it has been universalized as a global critical discourse.In China,ecocriticism as a burgeoning field has been heavily dependent on Western critical discourses,while ethnicity and nationality,for one thing,have their own logic in Chinese history.They were forced to turn into the universalized form of nation-state in China’s transformation to modernity.They experienced a new round of remodeling during the Socialist period in China.They have very complex relationships with the West.In the construction and reshaping of ethnicity and nationality,nature and the environment play a unique role.This essay aims to investigate,from a comparative perspective,the relationships between ecocriticism and ethnicity/nationality in Western and Chinese critical discourses respectively and explore their ideologies.In the final analysis,it urges scholars to always historicize,politicize,and contextualize in their ecocritical practices.