【内容提要】费孝通和柳田国男分别开拓了各自对本土社会的独特研究。费孝通以“乡土”为对象,以“同情”来自省的学问,宗旨是通过对本土社会的理解来提出切实可行的对策与举措。柳田国男的“乡土研究”乃是由乡土的人们在乡土、地方或农村搜集资料,以比较之法认识乡土,最终的目的则是认识整个日本社会。从这个意义上讲,乡土研究是“自我反思”的学问,这也正是费孝通与柳田国男学术思想的共同之处。两位先生都是以解决问题为目标,采取了跨学科的知识生产方式,可以说这正好体现了近代亚洲知识分子的学问特点以及他们对于社会的责任感。
Abstract: Fei Xiaotong and Kunio Yanagita have separately developed characteristic studies of their own societies. Fei Xiaotong, while focusing on rural areas, aims to propose practical strategies and measures for his society on the basis of sympathetic understanding and reflective studies. Kunio Yanagita’s rural studies are based on the data and materials collected from rural areas, with the ultimate goal of understanding Japanese society as a whole. Thus, the two sociologists have one thing in common: to treat rural researches as a process of self-examination. Both of them have set the target of solving problems and have adopted an interdisciplinary method of knowledge production. This is characteristic of the scholarship and social responsibility of the Asian intellectuals of recent times.
小熊诚:日本冲绳国际大学综合人文学部
文化人类学由19世纪以来欧美社会以理解异文化为目的而发展起来。然而,近年在对后现代主义及后殖民主义的批判中,有学者批判性地指出,欧美文化人类学所从事的所谓“异文化的他者记述”行为,垄断了非西欧世界的文化与社会表象,其结构性地无视甚至排除当地人自身的自我表象。{2}因此,非西方国家有关本土文化和社会的研究,亦即所谓的家乡人类学(Home Anthropology或Anthropology at Home)之类的学术领域开始引起关注,并且学界已经开始讨论其方法论及意义等方面的问题。{3}文化人类学在日本学术界已经占有一席之地,在后现代的状况下思考这一问题,对立足于日本从事异文化的调查与研究的文化人类学家来说乃是不可回避的课题。