Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters : Ritual Violence, Martial Arts, and Masculinity on the Margins of Chinese Society

惡魔戰士木偶、揮舞劍的道士，靈魂媒介用釘子和刀片撕裂他們的身體 - 這些都是中國宗教中最具戲劇性的形象。通常與瘟神的挽救和對流行的軍事神靈的崇拜有關，這種儀式實踐與中國傳統武術有明顯但未經檢驗的親緣關係。中國宗教中武術肖像和儀式漫長而持久的歷史表明，這遠比歷史巧合更深層。

Avron Boretz認為，武術姿勢和動作深深根植於儀式劇目中，部分原因在於它們體現了暴力、攻擊性和身體素質的男性特質，是中國父系和父權制的隱含核心。與此同時，對於演員和觀眾來說，武術的姿態喚起了江湖的神話，這是一個陰暗的，經常暴力的流浪者，不法分子，以及武術和魔法藝術大師。通過武術運動的直接身體練習和江湖敘事的創造性渲染，武術儀式從業者能夠識別和表現自己，無論多麼短暫和不完整，作為有實力的男人，否則被限制在這種深層次下限的獎勵父權制社會。

基於近二十年來在中國和台灣的實地考察，神、鬼和歹徒提供了一個關於中國宗教和社會中暴力儀式和儀式暴力的全面原始的描述。特寫、敏感的描繪和儀式演員本身的聲音 - 主要是工人階級的男人，其中許多是宣誓的兄弟會和團伙的成員 - 令人信服地將軍事儀式實踐與中國社會邊緣男人的生活和願望聯繫起來。這項工作對中國的儀式和宗教研究，中國黑社會的歷史和社會學，武術的歷史和人類學以及男性氣質的人類學都有重要貢獻。

Demon warrior puppets, sword-wielding Taoist priests, spirit mediums lacerating their bodies with spikes and blades--these are among the most dramatic images in Chinese religion. Usually linked to the propitiation of plague gods and the worship of popular military deities, such ritual practices have an obvious but previously unexamined kinship with the traditional Chinese martial arts. The long and durable history of martial arts iconography and ritual in Chinese religion suggests something far deeper than mere historical coincidence.

Avron Boretz argues that martial arts gestures and movements are so deeply embedded in the ritual repertoire in part because they iconify masculine qualities of violence, aggressivity, and physical prowess, the implicit core of Chinese patriliny and patriarchy. At the same time, for actors and audience alike, martial arts gestures evoke the mythos of the jianghu, a shadowy, often violent realm of vagabonds, outlaws, and masters of martial and magic arts. Through the direct bodily practice of martial arts movement and creative rendering of jianghu narratives, martial ritual practitioners are able to identify and represent themselves, however briefly and incompletely, as men of prowess, a reward otherwise denied those confined to the lower limits of this deeply patriarchal society.

Based on fieldwork in China and Taiwan spanning nearly two decades, Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters offers a thorough and original account of violent ritual and ritual violence in Chinese religion and society. Close-up, sensitive portrayals and the voices of ritual actors themselves--mostly working-class men, many of them members of sworn brotherhoods and gangs--convincingly link martial ritual practice to the lives and desires of men on the margins of Chinese society. This work is a significant contribution to the study of Chinese ritual and religion, the history and sociology of Chinese underworld, the history and anthropology of the martial arts, and the anthropology of masculinity.

  Avron Boretz (Autor)

Publisher:University of Hawaii Press 

ISBN:    978-0824834913 

原價   US 29   台幣價 NT$980