民族想象的建构路径——对本尼迪克特·安德森民族理论的一种考察

在民族国家的形成和发展中,自然因素和历史因素毫无疑问发挥着基础性作用,但人为建构性因素的功能亦不能忽视。印刷语言的传播、地理边界感的形成和历史记忆的传承等对形塑民族想象、建构民族认同十分重要。本尼迪克特·安德森对民族的现代性、建构性和政治性进行了系统性考察。在他看来,民族是特定文化中人为建构的产物,通过呈现“横向空间同时性”的时间观,印刷语言为人们建构民族的想象共同体奠定基础;经过“遗忘”与“选择”机制筛选,历史记忆形塑民族的同一性和连续性;借助地图、人口调查、博物馆等媒介,人们建立起关于民族空间的牢固想象。安德森关于民族想象的共同体的观点,为我们认识和把握民族和民族主义提供了重要的启发。

The Paths of Building National Imagination: An Investigation on Benedict Anderson's Theory of Nationalism

Although natural and historical factors undoubtedly play a fundamental role in the formation and evolution of nations,the importance of man-made constructive factors cannot be ignored.The spread of print-languages,the formation of geographical boundary senses and the inheritance of historical memories are essential for shaping national imagination and building national identity.Benedict Anderson conducted a systematic research into the modern,constructed and political nature of nations.In his opinion,nations are always the products of cultural construction.Firstly,print-languages lay a good foundation for people to imagine a nation to be a community by presenting‘horizontal spatial simultaneity’.Secondly,historical memories shape the national identity and continuity via the mechanism of selective forgetting.Thirdly,people build a solid imagination about the national space with the help of maps,census,museums and so on.All in all,Anderson's views on imagined communities provide us with important inspirations to understand and grasp the nation and nationalism.