文化大传统研究及其意义

人类学家罗伯特.雷德菲尔德（Robert Redfield）的＂大传统和小传统＂（Great tradi-tion and little tradition）区分概念,带有明显的现代性和精英主义价值色彩,需要给予后现代和后殖民立场的批判和改造。以符号媒介产生的年代为尺度,重新看待中国文化传统,把汉字记录的书面传统视为小传统,把前文字时代以来的神话思维视为大传统。这样的重新界定有助于学者走出千百年来形成的文本中心主义束缚,打破＂文明/原始＂的二元对立窠臼,充分利用人类学和考古学给出的新知识,重建具有深度的整体文化观。通过大传统的再发现,去认识文字小传统的所以然。

The Study of Great Cultural Tradition and Its Significance

The distinction between ＂great tradition and little tradition＂ introduced by Robert Redfield is distinctly modern and elitist,which needs to be reconstructed from post-modern and post-colonial approaches. In this paper, the written record of Chinese culture tradition is per- ceived as little tradition while the mythical thinking is viewed as great tradition. This distinc- tion will help scholars free themselves from text as the center,break the binary opposites be- tween civilization and primitiveness and reconstruct the overall culture outlook by making good use of new findings in anthropology and archeology. The rediscovering in the great tradition will contribute to explain the phenomena of the little tradition.