“例外的”自然——论中美比较环境史研究的重要性

Exceptional Nature: Why Do We Need Comparative Environmental History between China and the U.S.?

比较环境史,特别是中美之间比较环境史研究的可能性与重要性值得探讨。这是因为环境视角对于比较史学具有特别的意义,它不仅可以扩展比较史研究的广度,挖掘其深度,将人类文明的观念同生命之网的演化连接起来,而且还可以引领我们超越任何一种类型的民族中心主义与更为广泛的人类物种主义。就此而言,中美两国比较环境史研究是可能的,也是有意义的。中美两国的自然环境具有很大的共性,这为比较环境史的研究奠定了坚实的基础。而此种研究将可能在三个层面上做出重要的贡献:其一,它将挑战关于两国环境经历的某些刻板僵化的认识;其二,它将质疑对时间尺度的传统诠释,帮助我们更好地理解所有人类社会彼此纠缠的历史轨迹;其三,它还将启发我们对资本主义同自然关系的独特性做出新的思考。

This article intends to explore the possibility and significance of comparative environmental history,in particular,between China and the U.S.It consists of two parts.The first part focuses on the importance of an environmental perspective to comparative history,and argues that such a perspective would widen and deepen comparative history,and build a connection between the ideas of human civilizations with the evolution of the entire web of life.Furthermore,it will lead us to transcend not only any type of ethnocentrism,but also a wider species-ism.The second part concentrates on the possibility and significance of the comparative history between China and the U.S.It suggests that China and the U.S.share many commonalities in their natural settings which offers a solid foundation for doing such research.A comparative environmental history between the two countries could contribute in three dimensions:firstly,it challenges some old shallow stereotypes in our understanding of these two countries’history;secondly,it questions the conventional interpretation of the scale of time and could help us better understand the tangled trajectories of all human societies;thirdly,it would shed new light on our investigation of the uniqueness of capitalism in its relationship with nature.