英文摘要 |
The Post-Dumontian discussion of hierarchy highlights the relationship between Dumont’s epistemological position on the comparative study of culture against his views on holism and the concept of an encompassing hierarchy of value. The Post-Dumontains argue that Dumont’s fluid and open approach to social boundaries in holisms is especially well suited for understanding historical changes that arise from colonial contact and Christian conversion. The aim of this essay is to consider Dumont and the Post-Dumontian discussion in light of the changing kinship ethics for personhood and relatedness within the hilldwelling Zaiwa house society during the last decades of twentieth century based on fieldwork conducted between 1988 and 2000 in Zaiwa villages in Luxi and Longchuan counties, Dehong Prefecture. With the “opening” policies that were put into practice in China in the 1980s, the cultural practices of the hill-dwelling Zaiwa in Luxi and Longchuan became more heterogeneous as practice, experience, and choice. Surface appearances notwithstanding; state influence over people’s everyday lives did not disappear during this era. However, Zaiwa did negotiate with the state over “value” versus “power.” On the one hand, they were experiencing a sense of social detachment due to a loss of kinship as a value that de-totalized their cultural hierarchy of personhood. On the other hand, Zaiwa strategically chose particular rituals or celebrative activities whose intention was to re-encompass and re-totalize kinship as a value. The changes for the hill dwelling Zaiwa describe a complicated process of negotiation under the state’s gaze that differs from extant descriptions of change in the context of Christian conversion elsewhere in the world. |