流动之根——后记忆视阈下华裔加勒比文学中岭南文化符号的重构

The Flowing Root—Reconstruction of Lingnan Cultural Symbols in Chinese Caribbean Literature from the Perspective of Postmemory

摘要: 19世纪中叶，在英属加勒比殖民地种植园劳动力短缺的背景下，大量来自中国岭南地区的契约劳工越洋迁徙，并将岭南文化带入加勒比地区。在早期的加勒比文学叙事中，华人的身影频繁出现，但常常被边缘化、刻板化。为打破这一历史失语困境，华裔加勒比作家借助小说、诗歌、回忆录及散文等，开启了从内部视角重塑族群形象的文学文本实践。本文在后记忆理论视角下，选取系列加勒比第二、三代华裔移民作家的文学作品，从语言、饮食、仪式三个维度，探讨岭南文化符号在流散语境下的重构机制及其意义。在加勒比独特的“克里奥化”进程中，这些极具地缘特质的文化符号作为华裔个体重塑文化记忆、构建身份主体的载体，不仅有力解构了主流殖民话语中的他者化叙事，更催生出一种动态适应性与文脉赓续性并存的华裔加勒比文化身份。

Abstract: In the mid-19th century, amidst the labor shortage on plantations in the British Caribbean colonies, a large number of indentured laborers from the Lingnan region of China migrated across the sea, bringing Lingnan culture to the Caribbean. Chinese figures frequently appeared in the early Caribbean literary narratives, but they were often marginalized and stereotyped. To break this historical silence, Chinese Caribbean writers began reshaping the ethnic image from an internal perspective through novels, poetry, memoirs, and essays. From the perspective of postmemory, this paper explores the reconstruction and significance of Lingnan cultural symbols in the context of diaspora through three dimensions: language, food, and ritual by analyzing the works of second-and third-generation Chinese Caribbean immigrant writers. In the unique “Creolization” process of the Caribbean, these culturally distinctive symbols, as carriers of cultural memory and identity construction for Chinese individuals, not only effectively deconstruct the narratives of othering in mainstream colonial discourse but also give rise to a Chinese Caribbean cultural identity of dynamic adaptability and contextual continuity.