依附者还是构建者?--关于妇女亲属关系的一项民族志研究

无论在传统的中国妇女研究还是在人类学汉人亲属制度研究中,大多预设了其研究对象的形象基调--妇女通常被定位为依附者的角色.其关注的重点是以文献、仪式所代表的制度,而不是实践中的人.以实践的民族志视野来考察,则所谓亲属制度是行动者在实践中构建出来并不断被实践所选择和重构的.华北一个村庄的妇女的亲属关系实践表明,妇女具有与男性不同的亲属观,她们通常是在制度框架内利用各种关系资源和策略积极地构建其亲属关系.

Dependant or Constructor: An Ethnographical Study of the Women's Kinship

Either in the traditional study of Chinese women or in the anthropological study of the system of the Han kinship, there is usually a presupposed basic image as the object, that is, women defined as a dependant. The focus of such study is on the system represented by the historical documents and rituals rather than on the people in reality. From the perspective of ethnography based on reality, it can be proved that "the system of kinship" is constructed, selected and reconstructed by the participants. The case study of the women's kinship in a village in north China has proved that women and men have different concepts about kinship because women usually use various relations and strategies to establish their kinship without violating the existing system.