本文採取一個超越西方科學導向的生態批評視角來探討「霧霾人生」此自然文化(natureculture)現象。「霧霾人生」指的是類似霧霾天裡到戶外踏青、賞霧或打太極拳等活動;它與運用環環境主義話語的霧霾前衛藝術呈現出一個極大的反差。雖然前衛霧霾藝術符合當今科學正確性,也具有強烈行動意識,但是我卻認為這個被視為是生態含混或「霧霾阿Q」的「霧霾人生」更具顛覆性。日常生活裡的「霧霾人生」潛藏了「霧霾現代性」主流科學主義話語壓抑下來的集體生態無意識(collective unconsciousness),即霧霾論述裡屬於前現代「霧」或「氣」意識。我將此下被壓抑的生態意識解讀為一個對當前科學正確性話語和「科學主義」的生活方式的一種反抗。若將「霧霾人生」現象放在一個傳統中國文化如何在帝國文化殖民和科技現代化過程中不斷被邊緣化的語境下,當今空氣污染引發出來的「霧霾人生」事實上是一個邀請我們在超越科學式的空氣認知的前提下去探索其他認知空氣的契機。潛藏在「霧霾人生」裡面的反殖民生態論述幫助顛覆霧霾現代性下科學認知的合法性,以及生命科技電腦程式化(cyberization)。
This paper uses a non-Western scientific ecocritical perspective to explore the naturecultural phenomenon of "smog life." "Smog life" refers to outdoor activities during a smog day, such as hiking, enjoying the fog, or practicing taiji. It presents a sharp contrast with the environmentalist, avant-garde smog art. Although avant-garde smog art is in line with today's scientific correctness with a strong sense of activist commitment, I believe that the everyday "smog life," which is viewed either as "ecoambiguous" or "smog Ah-Q," is in effect more subversive than its avant-garde smog art counterpart. What undergirded "smog Life" is a "collective ecological unconsciousness"-the premodern "mist" consciousness-that is suppressed in "smog modernity," of which the scientific discourse such as toxic smog (mai) discourse has become the dominate way of conceptualizing air. I read this suppressed "mist" (wu) or qi consciousness as a form of resistance against the current scientific-corrective discourse and scientism. If we situate "smog life" in the context of the way in which traditional Chinese culture has been systematically marginalized in the process of imperial technological modernity, today's air pollution-induced "smog life" is in actuality an invitation to explore other cognitive possibilities of air beyond the scientific one. The hidden postcolonial ecological consciousness and discourse helps subvert the legitimacy of the exclusive domination of scientific epistemology as the only way of knowing, as well as the cyberization of life.