從蘇格蘭高地清地論述探究十八、十九世紀進步史觀：《蘇格蘭高地的悲傷記憶》與《異國他鄉的陽光記憶》的論戰

Exploring the Progressive Views of History in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century through the Discourse of the Highland Clearances in Scotland: A Debate between Gloomy Memories in the Highlands of Scotland and Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands

隨著國家內部蓬勃發展與帝國快速向外擴張，「進步史觀」逐漸成為十八、十九世紀英國社會的普遍信念。然而，若回頭檢視自十八世紀中葉起發生在蘇格蘭高地地區長達一個半世紀的清地，我們不免開始對「進步」的論述產生質疑。執行清地的一個半世紀間，數以萬計的蘇格蘭高地佃農因被視為無生產競爭力的社會殘餘，遭到地主/族長以經濟發展與社會「進步」為由，逐步驅離世代賴以為生（家）的土地，並以相較佃農更具高經濟生產力的黑面羊取而代之。本文將從最早針對高地清地的歷史書寫著手，如唐納德．麥克勞德的《蘇格蘭高地的悲傷記憶》(1841)，以了解清地受難者的論述，同時也探研支持清地之人的書寫，如以美國作家、廢奴主義者哈里特．比徹．斯托親身體驗高地生活後，於《異國他鄉的陽光記憶》(1854)中所提出的論點。從這兩個文本的分析，呈現兩方不同觀點對於清地事件所做出的思辨，並且以此歷史事件探究十八、十九世紀之進步史觀。

“Progress” was one of the major trends of thought in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As the country flourished internally and the empire expanded rapidly externally, the “progressive view of history” gradually became a widely shared belief. However, as we look back on a major historical event in British history, the Clearances in the Scottish Highlands, we begin to wonder about the discourse of “progress”. During the one-and-a-half centuries of the Highland Clearances, tens of thousands of Scottish Highland tenant farmers were regarded as unproductive remnants of society and were gradually evicted by the landowners (who were also the clan chiefs) from the land on which they had relied for generations on the grounds of economic development and social “progress”. They were replaced by the more economically productive, black-faced sheep. It will also explore the publications of those who supported the idea of the Clearances, such as Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands (1854) by the American novelist and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. From the analysis of these two texts, this paper will present two different perspectives on the Highland Clearances and will explore the discourse of the progressive view of history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.