布里吉·拉尔的史学观念与实践

Brij Lal’s Historical Proposition and Practices

在殖民主义时代,受民族主义史观和西方中心论的影响,西方的史学作品将太平洋岛屿描绘为“落后的”地区,“幼稚的”人们。20世纪60年代,J.W.戴维森提出“岛屿中心”史观,力图改变帝国史观下的岛屿史学撰写模式。布里吉·拉尔即是从殖民主义史学到岛屿史学转轨背景下成长起来的斐济本土史学家。拉尔主要关注太平洋岛屿史,尤其是斐济史。拉尔的史学实践与贡献集中在三个方面:聚焦斐济契约移民研究,运用口述史学和定量研究方法,拓展了印度契约移民史研究的新领域;开创斐济当代史撰写,对斐济四次政变的历史根源与斐济民主政治的发展进行反思;推动太平洋史学科建设,培养了一批从事太平洋史研究的学者。拉尔是太平洋岛国本土历史学家的代表,他对戴维森学派史学主张守正创新,客观处理政治与史学的关系,体现出他求真务实、知行合一的史学品格。

In colonial times,influenced by nationalist historical views and Western⁃centrism,the Western historians portrayed the Pacific Islands as“backward”areas and“naive”people.In the 1960s,James Wightman Davidson proposed the“island⁃centered”historical view,trying to change the model of island historiography under the imperial historical view.Brij Lal was a native Fijian historian who grew up during the period of transition from colonial times to island⁃centered times.Lal mainly engaged in research on the history of the Pacific Islands,especially the history of Fiji.Lal’s historical practice and contributions focus on three aspects:the study of indentured immigrants in Fiji,using oral history and quantitative research methods to open up new fields of research on immigrants from India;pioneering the writing of Fiji’s contemporary history,rethinking the historical roots of Fiji’s four military coups and the development of Fiji’s democratic politics;promoting the development of discipline of Pacific history and cultivating a number of young scholars engaged in Pacific history research.Lal was a representative of the native historians of the Pacific Island countries.He adhered to the Davidson school and advocated innovation and handles the relationship between politics and history objectively,which reflected his historical characteristics of seeking truth and being pragmatic,and uniting theory and practice.