Investigating Ethnicity : My Studies and Views of Ethnic Groups in China
アイテムタイプ
紀要論文 / Departmental Bulletin Paper
言語
日本語
キーワード
民族, 多元一体格局, 歴史, 共同心理素質, 民族間関係
キーワード(英)
ethnic groups (nation), system of integrated ethnic diversities, history, shared psychological quality (ethnos), interrelationships among ethnic groups
For sixty years, the author has been engaged in the study of ethnic
groups in China. This paper represents an attempt to provide an overall
view of his personal experiences in this field which in turn sheds light on
the ways in which he has viewed ethnic identity. Prior to 1949, after having
been trained in the subjects of anthropology and sociology, the
author started to conduct fieldwork in both Han and non-Han communities.
After 1949, for the purpose of creating equality among all nationalities
in China, the newly established People's Republic administered
a major research program to identify ethnic groups within its
territorial sovereignty. As a member of this program, the author was involved
in extensive nationality surveys. Through these surveys, he came
to realize that ethnic groups were shaped in the communal lives of their
members and transformative in time. This observation led the author to
emphasize the significance of the social historical perspective in
ethnological studies.
Even though the "Anti-Rightist Movement" and the "Cultural
Revolution" deprived him of 23 years of academic life, the lessons of
ethnic identification which he gained in the early fifties remained in the
author's mind. In 1979, he re-started work among minority nationalities.
Personal involvement in various research projects and in the
policy-making process has made it possible to put forward a new argument.
In 1989, summarizing his thoughts, the author put forword argument
that China is an integrated nation with cultural diversity. In doing
so, he had two criticisms in mind. On the one hand, he criticizes the idea
that one ethnic entity should be ruled by one independent state which has
legitimated various violent campaigns of ethnic separation in Europe.
However, the author's own studies indicate that different ethnic groups
have lived together for centuries within China. Therefore, the Eurocentric
definition of nation-state is not applicable in China. On the other
hand, historical studies of interrelationships among ethnic groups in
China have demonstrated that the Chinese nation was shaped through a
two-way process. From the bottom-up perspective, the history of the
Chinese nation is one through which diverse ethnic cultures and social
solidarities became integrated into a higher level order. From the topdown
perspective, the higher level order has never excluded lower level
ethnic cultural systems. Such a two-way historical perspective offers a
critique of those who attempt to draw a clear-cut demarcation line between
the Chinese nation and "other cultures" within it.
エスニシティの探究 : 中国の民族に関する私の研究と見解
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