台灣族群研究的發展

The Development of Ethnic Studies in Taiwan

本文的目的在描述與解釋台灣族群研究的發展歷程。作者先從「族群」一詞的發展與定義，到國外族群研究的簡要回顧，再切入國內族群研究的發展，目的在於釐清若干詞彙與理論上可能會有的含混不清之處。綜觀台灣族群研究的發展，作者以1987 年為界將之分成之前的沈寂與之後的興盛兩個階段。1987 年以前的戒嚴時期，族群研究的沈寂實乃受到大中華民族主義迷思的建構、現代化主義對異質性的規範性敵視、以及人們對「族群」、「種族」、「民族」等詞彙之混淆等因素所匡限。而1987 年解嚴後族群研究的興盛，則與當時政治結構激烈轉變有密切關連，包括族群運動的興起、多元主義之學術價值規範的引入、媒體／研究機構／研究人員的增加等，都有提升族群研究動能的作用。而此階段族群研究的特色則主要圍繞在大中華民族主義的解構與反解構論述上，包括省籍、閩客、原漢等人群團體分類「族群化」的過程、原住民族正名運動、客家運動、平埔族復振運動等，都成為促進族群研究的動力，也成為此階段族群研究的重要議題。

The purpose of this essay is to describe and explain the development of ethnic studies in Taiwan. According to the searching results of related journal articles collected in the database of the National Central Library, it was clear that the number of ethnic studies started to rise in the 1980s. Therefore, two phases of ethnic studies divided by the 1980s were identified in this article. The silence and rise of ethnic studies appeared to be shaped by the dramatic socio-political change in the 1980s, especially the year of 1987 when the martial law was terminated. Before the 1980s, under the construction of Chinese nationalism, anything that might menace the myth of the invented homogeneity of the Chinese nation was viewed as a political taboo. Thus, ethnic issues, including ethnic studies, were ignored in this phase no matter intentionally or unintentionally. However, under the circumstance that Taiwan had been a multi-ethnic society; the covert ethnic issues were revealed when the oppressed voices and forces were released along with political liberation after the late 1980s. In contrast with the oppressing effect of Chinese nationalism to ethnic studies before the 1980s, the prosperity of ethnic studies after the 1980s was fostered by the deconstruction of Chinese nationalism, including the rise and construction of Taiwanese nationalism, indigenous movement, Hakka movement, the resurgence of plains aborigines, etc. These emerging forces not only triggered the development of ethnic studies, but also served as key issues for ethnic studies.