Reality and literature: two directions for field homework as research methods

As a research method, field operations (also known as field surveys) have obtained long -term practice in social sciences such as ethnology, sociology, anthropology, and folklore, and related criticism and reflection are also continuously deepened. With the continuous cross and integration of humanities and social sciences, field operations have also drawn more and more reference and use of humanities, such as history and literature. The fields and the purpose of the fields and field operations in different disciplines are different, thereby showing a diversified orientation.

However, whether it is social science or humanistic discipline, it is based on the study of "people". This approximateity lays the foundation for understanding "fields" and "field operations" as a whole. It is thought that "fields" are where people are located. Anyone's place is the field. Fields not only exist in reality, but also in the literature.

"Field" in reality

The field operation stems from people's exploration of strange people and unknown worlds. Trying to understand different human culture and reflect on themselves, so as to obtain the overall understanding of the development of human society. This original intention points to the objects they are concerned about to those "unprecedented", "barbaric and backward" people. In the early field practice of Chinese fields, the term "field" involves more "rural" and "remote areas" corresponding to the city. The field operation was an important research method for deep understanding of rural and border. There are thousands of connections. Especially outside the academic world, when talking about field surveys, people's minds immediately appeared in the rural scene of Tian Lianmo, Xiaoqiao flowing water, or the border of the desert smoke and long river sunset. The field survey is often mistaken for "going to the countryside", which is filled with the color of "hunting and hunting". This simple and stereotype has been criticized and corrected by many people. However, to this day, many amateur people still use this narrow vision to understand fields and field homework.

In fact, field operations, as an effective means and methods of understanding and studying "people" and their activities, the scope of its practice has never been unchanged, but keeps pace with the times and continuously innovate. With the increasing development of society and the adjustment and update of the research objects of various disciplines, field operations have not been limited to the old categories of "rural" and "border". To be honest, the academic community has already returned to the field of field homework as a method of exploring the "people" activities to understand "fields" and launched related investigation activities, that is, some people are "fields".

In this sense, "field" is a variety of fields that the academic circles understand people's production and life practice. "Fields" can be large or small, it can be small as a house, a courtyard, a shrine, a building, a village, or a settlement, a township, or a large area, a area, and so on. "Fields" do not have urban and rural areas. It can be a rural society or a urban community. The object of field operations can be a person's activity or a group of people. In short, "fields" are the space category of people's activities. As long as there are people, there will be "fields". It can be said without exaggeration that in real life, "fields" are everywhere.

"Field" in the literature

There are "fields" everywhere in real life, but it does not mean that "fields" are only in real life. The ancients had a cloud: "Read thousands of books and walk thousands of miles." This sentence has actually clarified the two basic paths of learning: one is the "field" to reality, that is, "Wanli Road". It has a field survey in daily life to understand people's production, life and its social significance. The other is the "field" to the literature, that is, "reading thousands of books". It is a method of understanding people's past and current state of activity with the records of relevant literature.

The latter was established because to a certain extent, the literature itself is a record of people's various activities, and it is also the product of human activities. The literature can be an important carrier for human activities to understand human activities. It is an important medium that human civilization can inherit and continuously continue. By reading and understanding the literature, we can also achieve the purpose of understanding people and their activities. Therefore, the literature also has the nature of "field". From this perspective, there are also people and their activities in the literature, and some people have "fields". "Fields" also exist in real life, but also in various literature.

However, "fields" in the literature are different from being "fields" in reality. In reality, "fields" are mainly obtained by participating in observation and in -depth interviews. In the literature, "fields" are mainly used to form relevant understanding through text reading and analysis. Although the two are different in specific inquiry methods, they have similarities in grasp of the "field" category. In other words, whether in real life or in literature, "field" is essentially a field of understanding and analysis of people's activities. And tolerance. In this regard, they can be consistent.

"Towards the List of History": The interoperability of reality and literature

It is not contradictory and conflict to do "field" and "fields" in literature in reality. They can be a complementary relationship. The "field" in reality can provide us with a variety of lively and rich background information for us to know human activities, but it has a lot of lack of grasp of durability. The "field" in the literature can provide us with durable clues for the origin and development of human activities, but often cannot see the complicated factors such as the environment behind its activities. Through the two to learn and supplement each other, we often have unexpected gains on the relevant issues. "Towards the scene of history" is an important academic concept that many scholars in the "South China School" of History Anthropology. If reading literature emphasizes the time and context of historical events, then the fields entering the reality are the "sense of place" and "local sense" of historical events. In the study of social history and cultural history, only by combining the sense of time and place, combining the past historical events with the current social life can we better pursue the inner context and development logic of regional social history. Just as Chen Chunsheng Institute Said, "Researchers who have participated in the field work can truly understand, alone, or with a group of accompanies with a group of backgrounds from all over the world, walking towards the historical scene, investigating historical traces, interviewing the elders, collecting literature and legends, and in depth of depth The dense discussion, connecting the past and present, what is the meaning of the academic thinking of both historical and 'sense of liveness'. "

In any case, as a scientific research method, field operations should not be limited to some disciplines, but also should play its due value in various disciplines of humanities and social sciences. For history, the field operations in reality and literature will help us better combine grand historical narrative with micro -social life, so as to better understand the historical process of regional society and its inherent inner cultural changes mechanism.

(Author unit: Shandong University Confucian Higher Research Institute)

Source: China Social Science Network-Journal of Social Sciences of China

Author: Long Sheng

- END -