在田野中找歷史：三十年來的中國華南社會史研究與人類學

Doing History in the Field: Historical and Anthropological Studies of Southern China over the Last Three Decades

近年來中國明清史研究的重要發展之一是強調從基層社會出發、重視田野實察與地方文獻的地方社會史研究。這樣的研究取向可以追溯到八零年代受西方社會科學訓練的學者與中國本地的歷史學者從華南開始的合作，也因此這樣的研究取向常被標誌為「華南學派」或「歷史人類學」。這些華南社會的研究者，與同時期的社會科學研究者一樣，同樣面臨如何在時間的向度底下處理社會結構的問題；所不同的是華南研究者所研究的對象是受久遠歷史影響更深刻、也與國家制度有更長久之互動經驗的基層社會。本文梳理三十年來從華南研究出發之明清社會史研究所討論的核心議題，包括基層社會結構的歷史過程，特別是制度與禮儀的地方實踐在其中扮演的角色。並與同時期西方人類學界對於歷史過程、歷史心性與歷史書寫的討論相比較。

One of the most remarkable achievements of studies of late imperial China in recent years has been studies of local society that emphasize the bottom-up view and the use of sources from fieldwork and local documents. This approach can be traced back to the 80's when social scientists trained by western academics cooperated with Chinese historians to study southern China, an approach usually labeled the “Southern China School” or “historical anthropology.” The central questions that these southern China researchers and the social scientists of their period faced were the same: how to understand social structures historically. What was different was that the southern China researchers were dealing with people more deeply (or least claiming to be) influenced by their historical past and having a longer history of interactions with state institutions. This article traces the core issues of this approach, including the historical process of structuration, and the role of local practices of rituals performance and state institutions in this process. It also discusses this approach from the aspects of historical process, historicity and historiography, which were dealt with by Emiko Ohnuki in her review of historical anthropology.