初探美國「印地安學」的原住民族研究

Preliminary Exploration on Indigenous Research of American Indian Studies

文化是認同的基礎，從學術發展的脈絡而言，所有的社會均主張維持他們的文化和知識系統是並不令人吃驚的。西方科學的歷史作為一種文化事業的建設，主張知識的建構與技術的創新是由主導精英的利益所驅動。然，1980 年代以來的國際原住民族運動發展，「原住民族」一詞所具有的意涵，早已超脫固有以傳統祖傳領域和共享文化作為特定經驗指涉定義的群體。原住民族的歷史經驗、知識系統已然形塑一種研究方法，亦可代表一門社會科學的視角，甚至是哲學和思想體系的立場。本文側重當代觀察，從關切美國原住民族的身份出發，試圖從其本位族群立場視野窺探原住民族研究的發展，因此主要的論述非關傳統「主流社會意識」下的美國原住民族研究。本文認以原住民族為本位的研究發展，一則反映西方知識研究系統不足之處。再則，實係對於西化進程不滿的反射，此種不滿即係連結原住民族歷史殖民經驗的遺緒。本文透過理解美國印地安部族學的研究發展，試圖闡明原住民族殖民經驗的遺緒，深植在各學術研究有關印地安部族的論說。

Culture is fundamental to identity. In the context of academic development, it is not surprising that all the society argue to entrench their own culture and knowledge systems. The history of Western epistemology as a cultural enterprise alleges that knowledge building and technological innovation are driven by the interests of dominant cultural groups. But, since 1980s international indigenous movements have been connecting culture and science through decolonizing methodologies. Indigenous historical experiences and knowledge systems have already shaped a research method, which can also be a representative of social science perspective, even the position of philosophy and ideology. This paper takes the stand of contemporary observations. Beginning from the concern about American Indians identity, this paper aims to understand the development of indigenous studies in the interface between the US mainstream social consciousness and Native Americans. This paper argues the term “indigenous” in the framework of academia refers both to the revisioning of cultural landscapes from the perspective of indigenous peoples and opposition to colonization through indigenous identity and practices.