Postscript to the Union of Two Worlds: An Expository Note

This note is a follow-up, update, and correction of ‘The Union of Two Worlds: Reconstructing Elements of Proto-Athabaskan Folklore and Religion’, published in Folklore in 2016. First, the note addresses evidence presented by a new publication. Next, it adds an omitted illustration of the comparison of a Navajo ‘Big Fly’ with a Tibetan ‘enemy god’. Finally, it corrects a small-but-meaningful error and clarifies a resulting interpretation about the Huns in Buddhist literature.     

从信仰到信：美国民俗学的民间宗教研究

从记录整理零碎片段的迷信观念,到把握民间信仰的文化整体,再到关注民众日常生活中的活态宗教实践,美国民俗学的民间宗教研究在过去60年中发生了根本性变化。作为民俗研究的一个重要领域,这和民俗学学科研究范式从文本到表演,到实践的整体转型密切相关,和代表性的表演理论既本质关联又有所差异。通过分析不同时期代表性学者对民间宗教信仰的界定与研究,可以勾勒出该领域基本理论视角和方法论变迁的学术史轨迹。     

观念与社会:女子小脚的美丑与近代中国的两个世界

近代中国缠足与反缠足两种观念曾长期竞争,至少到２０世纪３０年代,小脚美的观念在民间仍广泛存在,而天足女性及其家庭则往往受到社会的歧视。这样的观念有力地影响到女性在婚姻方面的选择能力和选择范围,由于近代社会变动导致从价值取向到生存竞争方式都有较大的差异的“两个世界”的存在,多数有能受教育的女性很难享受与“新世界”相伴随的社会待遇,缠足实际成为保障她们婚姻成功的一个基本条件;这样的社会因素又以过来强化     

世界社会的民俗协商:民俗学理论与方法的新生命

民俗学是随着现代性的全球扩张而发展起来的一门高度国际性的关于民族文化传统的学科,它在方法上采取集体主义,在理论上假设民族在民俗上的同质性。在现代性走向巅峰的时候,同质性人群和民俗传统的快速消逝带来民俗学的危机。面对危机,从日常生活来界定民俗的思潮兴起,却并不能解除危机。在人口流动、文化杂糅的世界社会,个人与小群体必须与他人协商安排日常生活的细节,这种世界社会的民俗协商正在成为广泛的事实。能够应对这种趋势的民俗学将会获得发展的生命力,这有赖于从业者带来理论与方法的创新。     

民俗与身体——美国民俗学的身体研究

20世纪80年代以来,作为对灵肉二元论的反叛,身体成为西方人文社会各学科持久的热点之一。1989年美国民俗学年会上,民俗学家凯瑟琳·扬依照民俗(folklore)的构词法,创造性地提出"身体民俗"(bodylore)一词,着力于探讨有关身体的民俗或知识,特别是身体如何参与构建社会意义。本文主要追溯美国民俗学身体转向的社会与学术思潮背景,勾勒其基本理论视角与研究路径,并指出身体性、身体知识是民俗知识的根本属性之一。     

The May 2004 Enlargement of the European Union: View from Two Years Out

A prominent American geographer and observer of political currents shaping modern Europe provides an introduction and background for three following papers on the nature and impacts of European Union's 2004 enlargement in different macroregions along the EU's eastern frontier. He outlines three major dimensions (economic, social-political, and institutional) that may be used to evaluate claims supporting and opposing enlargement, surveying the evidence to date for each. Concluding sections highlight the importance of scale in assessing the impacts of enlargement, the persistence of state nationalism as a curb to EU "deepening," and changes in the nature of the EU itself over time. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, F20, F40, O19. 2 figures, 20 references.     

从“民俗”到“语境中的民俗”——中国民俗学研究的范式转换

20世纪90年代中后期以来,中国民俗学学者开始从单纯的民俗事象研究,转向在语境中研究民俗,强调田野调查,强调在田野中观察民俗生活、民俗表演的情境、民俗表演的人际互动、民俗表演与社会生活、社会关系、文化传统之间的复杂关联等等,呈现出民族志式的整体研究取向,时空、人、社会、表演、变迁、日常生活等系列关键词,表明在语境中研究民俗的学者具有共同的问题、方法以及学术取向,初步具备学术范式的意义。     

The Anthropology of Virtual Worlds: World of Warcraft

Three recent ethnographies of the well-known massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft demonstrate the health and vitality of the study of virtual worlds. In particular, they emphasize the importance of anthropologists reading ethnographic work done by researchers in other disciplines, and by connoisseurs and cultural practitioners of video games who deserve to be taken as intellectual interlocutors. It may be, however, that less and less work will be done on virtual worlds in the future as scholarly attention focuses on other, more novel forms of technology.     

The Jackal and the Lion: Aspects of Khoisan Folklore

This article explores the relationship between southern African Khoekhoe and San folktales through discussion of a specific nineteenth-century tale. Indigenous meanings embodied in the selected narratives rather than in Khoisan trickster tales in general are sought by explication of highly significant words and phrases.