写文化之争——人类学中的后现代话语及研究转向

The Contending of Writing Culture——Post-modern Discourse in Anthropology and the Change in the Studies

20世纪 6 0年代以来兴起的后现代主义掀起了一股质疑权威和结构的思潮。在人类学领域 ,后现代主义的批评精神得到极大的扩展和延伸 ,与人类学内部业已存在的理论趋势一拍即合 ,推动形成了 2 0世纪 80年代一场声势浩大的“写文化”大论争。探讨人类学在“写文化”论争后所能扮演的理论和实践角色。其理论基调都带有明显的后现代的阐释和质疑 ,对整体论的质疑甚至抛弃的影响更是致命的。这种怀疑和批评体现了后现代主义对宏大叙事的批判 。

The post-modernism, emerging in 1960’s, has produced a thought doubting the authority and structure. In the domain of anthropology, post-modernist criticism has been greatly extended to fit with the trend of anthropological theories so that the formation of an influential contending of “writing culture” was promoted in 1980’s. Since then, anthropologists have been exploring the theoretical and practical functions of anthropology in this contending. The theories carry the tones of post-modernism, interpretation, and doubting. Meanwhile, a fatal tendency is the doubting or even rejection of holism. Still, this skepticism embodies that the post-modern criticism on grand narration and the post-colonial criticism on the Western cultural hegemony correspond well to anthropological studies.