国族边缘、边界与变迁－两个近代中国边疆民族考察的例子

Borderlands, Boundaries and Changes of the Nation: Two Early Investigations of Ethnicity in Chinese Frontier Regions

在中国国族国家建构的过程中，最重要的变迁之一是发生在中国边疆、边界上的钜大变迁－过去清帝国边疆藩属与部落之民被转化为国族国家内的少数民族。本文以中央研究院在1929及1933年进行的两个边疆民族考察为例，说明民族学知识、方法，与学者之田野活动，在完成此最终造成中国少数民族识别与划分之近代变迁过程中所扮演的角色。并且，经由分析民族考察者与本地人士间的互动，本文说明这些历史变化发生的微观社会情境。最後本文强调微观社会研究之意义；探索一时代变迁边缘之微观社会情境，我们可以体察人们的行为如何一方面受种种社会规范与结构的约制，一方面又显现个人的选择与创造力，这些可以帮助我们对社会及历史变迁有更多的了解。

In the process of China's nation-state building, one of the most important changes was the huge transformation that occurred on her frontiers, where the previous non-Han peoples living in vassal states or tribal societies in borderlands of the Qing Empire were transformed into ethnic minorities within the Chinese nation. Based on two pioneering ethnological/anthropological fieldwork studies by scholars from the Academia Sinica in 1929 and 1933, this article explains the roles of anthropological knowledge, methods and related fieldwork activities in accomplishing this transformation, which eventually led to the identification and delimitation of many national minorities. And, by analyzing the interaction between these ethnographers/scholars and the minorities they studied, this article explains the micro-social context within which these historical changes occurred. The article concludes by highlighting the significance of studying the micro-social context. Exploring the micro-social context in a time of transition, we can observe how people's actions were, on the one hand, restricted by various social rules and ”structures,” but on the other hand, revealed individual choices and creativity. These observations can help us to gain a better understanding of social and historical dynamics.