華語語系研究：海外華人與離散華人研究之反思

Sinophone Studies: Rethinking Overseas Chinese Studies and Chinese Diaspora Studies

本文以重新思考海外華人研究到離散華人研究，再到華語語系研究（Sinophone Studies）的學科演進，來探討學科及其理念所蘊含的文化政治意義。首先以批判以漢民族文化為中心的中國性話語，本文闡述文化鄉愁在海外華人研究與離散華人研究中的問題性；在對本質化的中國及相關話語進行解構後，勾勒出華語語系研究對考察華人社群的身份意識及其本土生活經驗的意義。特別在離散研究發展至今，正處於瓶頸的狀態，華語語系研究可謂一個新的套路，有助於我們重新思考離散華人研究與華語語系研究錯綜複雜，卻又相輔相成的關係。本文最後提出「翻譯性華語語系身份」（Translational Sinophone Identity）的概念，以提倡語言文化在交流下所產生的一種平移性身份認同──一種處於過程期與進行式、不斷地在身份建構的過程中繼承與解構過去的族裔身份。翻譯性華語語系身份中的平移特質強調的是新動力與身份的推衍，在實質上是個去本質化「中國性」的過程。

This article surveys the evolution of Overseas Chinese studies to Chinese Diaspora studies, and to Sinophone studies in order to explore the political and cultural implications of these disciplines. First, by exposing the oppressive nature of a Chinacentric discourse on Chineseness, this article problematizes the cultural nostalgia for China as the original homeland among Sinophone subjects, a sentiment central to the disciplines of Overseas Chinese studies and Chinese Diaspora studies. Next, it deconstructs the essentialism in this discourse of Chineseness and its related concepts as a point of departure to rethink the significance of distinct local realities and lived experience of Sinophone communities. Especially at a point when Chinese Diaspora studies has reached its limits to generate newer ways of addressing overseas Chinese affairs, Sinophone studies points us in a new direction to rethink the complex, yet complementary relationship between Chinese Diaspora studies and Sinophone studies. Lastly, this article proposes the concept of ”Translational Sinophone Identity”—a concept that promotes the recognition of Sinophone identities as always in process, and as a product of accumulation, deconstruction, reconstruction, and translation. This translational characteristic in Sinophone identities offers us a tool to deimperialize the essentialist notion of Chineseness and to unveil its oppressive influence on Sinophone communities.