试论民族的层次及其样态——基于人们共同体的发展逻辑

On the Multiple Levels and Forms of the Nation

由氏族到部族的转变,亦即从单一的血缘世系共同体向根源于但又超越血缘家族的想象性的我们共同体的建构,形成民族的初始样态。有理由将种族置于国家民族、族群以及人类性民族的关联之下,经历种族主义之后,种族已不只是一个描述民族的中性概念。族群是扬弃种族的结果,也是从种族到国家民族的必要中介,族群的出现,标示着人们共同体在其发展中获得了生存方式及其文化的多样性,应自觉避免族群的种族化及其政治化。国家民族扬弃了民族的诸实体样态,并将民族带入现代性,使民族诸层次及其样态呈现出复杂的关系,其中,国家民族及其认同与族群自觉的关系,构成现代性状况下民族实践的基本关系,而“nation”也经历了从早先与族群(ethnic group)相通的边缘性的和贬义的所指,向国家民族义涵的转化与提升。人类性民族乃民族的总体层次及其样态,其不是民族之历史演进的中介,而是目的。

Focusing on the unification of the natural evolution and cultural progress of the“human community”,this paper reveals the historical evolution of the multiple levels and forms of tribe,race,ethnicity,nations,and the human nation.This kind of genealogy discussion is to analyze the complex relationships among the multiple levels and forms of various nations in modernity and the nation.The initial mode of the nation is formed by the transition from clans to tribes,that is,from a single kin community to the construction of an imaginary we community rooted in but also beyond thekin family.We need to place races under the nexus of nations,ethnicities,and the human nation.Encountering racism,the race is no longer just a neutral concept to describe a nation.Ethnic groups are the result of the sublation of races,and they are also the necessary mediators from race to nation.The emergence of nations indicates that the human community has acquired a diversity of living modes and cultures,reminding us to avoid the racialization and politicization of ethnicities.The concept of nation sublates the various substance forms of ethnicities,and this concept also brings ethnicities into modernity with in the framework of multiple levels and forms.The relationship between identifications of the nation and self-awareness of ethnicities constitutes national practices in modernity.The image of the Nation initially had a pejorative connotation due to its association with ethnic groups,and then gradually improved its image because of its signified transformation toward nation.In the process of the evolution of the nation,substantial nation will eventually be replaced by the human nation,which is a general level and form of nation.The human nation is not a historical medium of nations,but the end.