从边缘想象“边缘”:藏彝走廊多民族“野人”故事的符号人类学探析

Imagining“Margin”from the Marginal:A Semiotic Anthropological Study of Multi-ethnic“Savage”Folktales in the Tibetan-Yi Corridor

不同于传统民间文学研究多关注野人故事“神异、精怪”的想象特质或民间故事的角色、母题、原型、程式功能,本文从符号人类学的跨学科视域出发,结合田野和文献/文本分析方法,从文化符号的编码赋义、象征隐喻与文化机制等多维度,关注野人故事如何在藏彝走廊多民族的讲与听之间、在中原志怪博物传统与边地口头传统之间持续生成与变迁,由此讨论走廊人群如何在西南边地迁徙流动的历史过程中理解当地的复杂生境,并在生境开拓与资源转化过程中形塑身份认同,探索人境交染、族群互动、多物种共生的多元路径。

Based on an interdisciplinary perspective of semiotic anthropology,this paper differentiates itself from the traditional folk literature research that pays much attention to either the imaginative characteristics of the“mysterious and the supernatural”or the roles,motifs,archetypes and formulaic functions of savage folktales.Combining fieldwork and literature analysis,the study explores the meaning-coding patterns,symbolic metaphor and cultural mechanics.It focuses on how these stories are generated in a multi-ethnic space and constantly change in the Tibetan-Yi Corridor,where they are told and heard in the tradition of Zhiguai(志怪,supernatural tales),Bowu(博物,natural history)on the Central Plains and the oral narrative tradition of the southwestern border areas.Accordingly,it discusses local people’s understanding of their complex ecological environment throughout the migratory history that shapes their identity through the process of habitat development and resource transformation.The multiple paths of human–culture interaction,ethnic exchange and multi-species symbiosis are explored.