知识冷战与美国学在亚洲的初创——以日本与印度为个案

The Intellectual Cold War and the Inception of the American Studies in Asia:A Case Study on Japan and India

二战结束后,美国为构建所谓国际新秩序,而与苏联展开全方位对抗。在此过程中,美国学作为美国知识体系的重要组成部分,其海外传播被赋予了意识形态内涵。20世纪五六十年代,美国以日本与印度为起点,正式在亚洲展开美国学的学科制度化进程。美国学在日、印的传播,深受美国政府和私人机构在资金、人员和规划等方面的形塑,致使两国学者对美国知识产生既迎又拒的复杂情感。从知识冷战的视角出发,美国学在亚洲的初创,看似意在深化亚洲学人对美国历史与文化的理解,实则是为美国同苏联争夺学术话语权,以及打造“世界领袖”身份提供知识根基。美国学在促进亚洲学术发展的同时,也在一定程度上造成亚洲学界对美国的心理依赖,造成双方学术关系甚至地缘政治关系上的不平等。但随着亚洲学人独立意识的增强和对学术的反思,美国很难真正把握美国学在亚洲的发展轨迹。

After the end of the Second World War,the United States launched an all-round confrontation with the Soviet Union due to the construction of so-called new world order.In the course of such confrontation,the overseas dissemination of the American Studies,an important constituent of the American knowledge system,was endowed with ideological connotation.In the 1950s and the 1960s,the United States took Japan and India as a starting point to initiate the institutionalisation of the American Studies in Asia.The dissemination of the American Studies in Japan and India was shaped largely by the U.S.government and private institutions in finance,personnel,and academic planning.Accordingly,the scholars from both countries had complex emotions of extending heartfelt passion while constant rejection to the American knowledge.From the perspective of the Intellectual Cold War,the inception of the American Studies in Asia seemingly deepens the Asian scholars'understanding of the American history and culture.However,its essence is to provide the intellectual foundation for the United States fighting for the academic discourse power against the Soviet Union and build‘World leader'identity.The dissemination of the American Studies not only promoted the academic development in Asia,but resulted in the psychological dependence of the Asian academia on the United States to a certain extent,causing the mutual inequality in the academic relationship even in the geopolitics relationship.Nevertheless,following the strengthening of the independent consciousness and introspection on the academic studies of the Asian scholars,it is very difficult for the United States to truly grasp the development track of the American Studies in Asia.