變成他者：殖民主義脈絡下的食人論述與「薩滿」巫術

Abstract

本研究探討殖民主義脈絡下的食人論述為殖民者與被殖民主所共同促成的論述。一開始從歷史與文化的觀點討論食人議題對人的影響，並探究食人指控為帝國主義擴充與掠奪的藉口。接著以對原民能動性的辯論來了解被稱為「食人者」的原民為擁有理性的個體而非被西方論述所簡化的單純集體。原民能動性可在接續討論可理解性與可意識性的互轉中找到例證。此外，薩滿巫術也是一種可理解性與可意識性的互轉，薩滿透過巫術儀式把可理解性的巫靈呈現為可意識性的巫靈附體。因此，薩滿也利用殖民者對其的野蠻想像，透過巫術儀式的運用，以模擬巫術的姿態來模擬殖民論述中的野蠻意像。原民面對殖民者的食人指控可被認為是以類似薩滿巫術的模式來模擬殖民者對食人者的野蠻想像，原民透過如實性吞食殖民者的肉體與比喻性融入殖民者的特質，因而達成模擬的最終目的―變成殖民他者。由於原民對食人論述的滲透，使得以殖民者角度為主的食人論述因此變得備受質疑。

This study examines colonialist cannibal narratives not just as a discourse on the native, but also that of the native. The discussion begins with an overview of the subject of cannibalism—its historical and cultural significance on human sensibility and consciousness—with emphasis on its role as the “tool of Empire” within the colonial context. It is followed by the debate on the native’s agency, which provides an interpretative scheme for understanding the cultural and symbolic meaning of the “cannibal native,” i.e., as a sensible being imbued with human rationality and not as a fixed entity categorized by Western discourses. The strategy of interconversion of intelligibility and sensibility illustrates the native’s influence and involvement in the cannibal discourse. The interplay of the intelligible and the sensible can be seen in the subsequent discussion on the workings of shamanism to suggest that through the savage imaginings of the colonist, the so-called cannibal native takes on the role of shaman, with the enactment of the magic of mimesis to imitate and become Other. The native thus mimes the act of cannibalism and assumes the role of “cannibal” through consumption and incorporation in which the cannibal takes on physical and symbolic possessions of the eaten. The colonial discourse of cannibalism thus is not just a discourse on the native; it is also a discourse of the native. This calls into question the reliability of the Western cannibal discourse and reveals the impossibility of the colonial pedagogy to subsume and subjugate the Other, which renders the Western discourse on cannibalism problematic and unstable.