由「者」到「局」：以本土心理學垂直模式發展自我表述困難者之主體經驗的障礙研究

Situatedness Speaks: Methodology of Vertical Indigenization for Studying the Lived Experience of Subjects with Difficulty in Self-Expression

垂直模式的本土心理學以回到生活經驗為目標，契合於障礙研究啟發的主體經驗轉向，並能克服無法清晰自我表述之障礙群體為對象的研究缺口。本文以余德慧的「局、者、情、事」現象學心理學方法論，來面對「他人報導者—經驗者視角」的差異，發展並建構出能夠以他人報導的資料抵達自我表述困難者生活經驗的研究方法。據此，本文論述有困難於自我表述者的生活經驗研究方法論，並以一位育有自閉症男孩之母親的敘說資料為例，詳細說明如何從報導者對被報導者特定生活經驗的描述中，還原分析出經驗的場景脈絡，從而獲得被報導者之個人生活經驗的置身結構。本文由此展示，在可靠的方法論與可行的方法支持下，可以讓自我表述困難者的主體經驗獲得揭露，深化障礙研究在經驗主體轉向上的進展。

Disability studies has increasingly shifted toward a“subjective turn,”emphasizing the importance of understanding the first-person, lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. This phenomenological focus, however, has encountered a significant methodological challenge: it relies heavily on articulate self-narration. This prerequisite systemically excludes a vast population of individuals who have“difficulty in self-expression,”such as those with autism, dementia, advanced cognitive impairments, or other conditions that impede communication. The most common workaround is to rely on“proxy reporters,”typically close family members or caregivers. This solution, however, introduces a critical epistemological problem: How can researchers distinguish the reporter’s own interpretations, biases, and experiences from the authentic, subjective experience of the person they are reporting on? This paper addresses this gap by proposing a robust phenomenological methodology designed to access the lived experience of the subject with difficulty in self-expression through the narrative of a proxy reporter.
This methodology is constructed by bridging two key theoretical frameworks from Taiwanese indigenous psychology. The first is the“vertical model”of indigenous psychology. This model is distinct from the“horizontal model,”which typically focuses on East-West cultural comparisons. The vertical model, by contrast, advocates for a move downward from abstract, universalized academic theories to the concrete, immediate, and specific lived experiences of individuals within their everyday life-world. The second framework is the phenomenological methodology of“Ju, Zhe, Qing, Shi”(局、者、情、事) developed by Taiwanese psychologist Yee Der-Huey. This framework posits that a person’s experience is structured by: Shi (事, the event), Qing (情, the affective-relational logic or relatedness), Ju (局, the situatedness or context that constitutes the person), and Zhe (者, the person-in-the-situation). In this view, the“Zhe”(person) is not a discrete self but is fundamentally constituted by their“Ju”(situatedness). The central argument of this paper is that the“Ju, Zhe, Qing, Shi”framework provides the necessary theoretical tools to resolve the proxy-reporter dilemma. The methodology posits that a reporter’s narrative not only reveals the reporter’s situatedness (報導者之局) but discloses the relational position and thus the situatedness of the reported subject (被報導者之局) as well. This is because the reporter and the reported subject exist in a shared relational field. The subject’s experience is not a hidden internal state but manifests through their position and actions within the relational context described by the reporter. For example, if a woman’s concern about her son’s grades is to be found in the“Ju”of“daughter-in-law”rather than that of mother, it simultaneously illuminates the son’s“Ju”as a“grandson”positioned within that same web of expectations in the Taiwanese familial context.
This methodology is demonstrated through a detailed case analysis of a mother’s (the reporter) narrative about her adolescent son, Ah-Kai (the reported subject), who has autism. For example, the mother describes an event where her son relentlessly points out others’rule-breaking behavior, which she terms a“deadly sense of justice”(要命的正義感). From the mother’s“Ju”(situatedness), which is organized by“interpersonal appropriateness and personal safety,”the son’s behavior appears as dysfunctional and dangerous. However, the phenomenological analysis reframes this. Ah-Kai is not operating within his mother’s social“Ju.”His actions are perfectly logical when understood from his“Ju”: a world structured by“clear principles”(明確道理) and absolute rules. The conflict arises not from his deficit, but from a“lack of shared situatedness”(不共局) between them. This analysis successfully accesses the son’s subjective experience (being-in-a-world-of-rules) by analyzing the mother’s narrative.
The paper then articulates this approach into a concrete, multi-step analytical process.
1. Data collection: Obtaining rich, descriptive narratives from an intimate reporter through in-depth interviews.
2. Reduction analysis: This phase takes the reported content back to the stance where it is said.
2-1. Content description: The researcher employs phenomenological“bracketing”(epoché) to suspend judgment on the“facts”of the report, treating the narrative as the reporter’s view rather than objective reality.
2-2. Preliminary analysis: The researcher analyzes the contextual viewpoint from which the reporter is speaking, thereby identifying the reporter’s“Ju.”This crucial step distinguishes the reporter’s framework from the phenomenon itself.
3. Elaboration of the subject’s situated structure: This phase reconstructs the reported subject’s life-world structure.
3-1. Constitutive themes: Using the method of imaginative variation, the analyst groups the data to form themes that describe the subject’s (e.g., Ah-Kai’s) unique mode of being.
3-2. Situated structure: Finally, these themes are synthesized into a holistic, descriptive“situated structure”that articulates the coherent, underlying logic of the subject’s lived world, such as Ah-Kai’s situated structure of“being possessed by principles”(道理上身).
This paper concludes that this methodology provides a reliable and feasible pathway to reveal the subjective experiences of those with difficulties in self-expression. It expands the“vertical model”of indigenous psychology into the critical domain of disability studies and allows the field’s“subjective turn”to become truly inclusive. By understanding the subject’s situatedness rather than merely labeling their behavior, this approach avoids pathologizing the individual. It offers new possibilities for support, moving away from“fixing”the person and toward creating“friendly and inclusive environments”and“shared situations”that acknowledge and accommodate their unique way of being in the world.