《船娘之歌》中的物叙事与加勒比华裔文化身份建构

Thing Narrative and the Construction of Caribbean-Chinese Cultural Identity in Song of the Boatwomen

摘要: 圭亚那华裔作家美玲·金的短篇小说集《船娘之歌》以殖民权力结构与种族歧视为核心议题，将流散经验与身份认同问题置于叙事中心。作品书写圭亚那独立史与契约华工在殖民历史进程中的生存境遇，关注华人女性在殖民地和本土国家的交叉社会身份及其历史主体性的构建过程。小说文本构建起一个鲜活的物质性场域，通过具体“物”的呈现与流转，投射加勒比华裔个人生活与集体记忆的真实面貌。人类主体与无生命的物之间的互动性构建具有多重功能，尤其在推动叙事发展进程、展露人物性格特征、阐释文化符号表征等方面作用明显。本文以“物”叙事为切入点，以《船娘之歌》为研究文本，为探讨当代加勒比华裔个体身份建构与族群归属感提供新的理解路径。

Abstract: Guyanese-Chinese author Meiling Jin’s short story collection Song of the Boatwomen takes colonial power structures and racial discrimination as its core issues, placing diasporic experiences and identity at the center of its narrative. The work depicts the history of Guyana’s independence and the living conditions of indentured Chinese laborers during the colonial era. It pays close attention to the dually marginalized identity of Chinese women in both the colony and the metropole, as well as the construction process of their historical subjectivity. The text constructs a vivid material field, projecting the authentic personal lives and collective memory of the Caribbean-Chinese community through the presentation and circulation of specific “objects”. The interactive relationship constructed between human subjects and inanimate objects serves multiple functions, playing a particularly significant role in advancing the narrative, revealing character traits, and interpreting cultural symbolic representations. Taking “thing” narrative as a starting point and Song of the Boatwomen as the primary text, this paper provides a new perspective for understanding the construction of individual identity and the sense of ethnic belonging among contemporary Caribbean-Chinese people.