本文討論19、20世紀之交的中國作者,如何透過「非洲」此一異域形象的形塑與再現,扣問自身政治際遇與文化危機?這些展現「非洲」形象的材料,投射「自我」與「他者」、「本土」與「異域」、「中國」與「世界」的互辨,隱藏著作為書寫者的「自我」與被描寫的「他者」的對應關係。本文透過新聞報導、地理學書籍、史傳、遊記、教科書、詩歌、小說與圖像等多元的文本材料,分為「瓜分非洲」、「演繹黑種」、「非洲風土」與「探險非洲」四個子題,討論晚清作者演述的「非洲」形象與其背後的「中國」映照。從異國形象學而言,這些非洲形象潛藏著豐富的研究內涵,不只是對異國現實的單純複製,也同時投射中國注視者的政治遭遇、文化處境與意識形態等。有關「非洲」的呈現模式,與其說是演述「非洲」,倒不如說是自我的文化象徵性表現。
This study discusses how Chinese authors, at the turn of the 19^(th) and 20^(th) centuries, questioned the political encounters and cultural crises through the shaping and representation of the exotic image of "Africa." Such materials to present the image of "Africa" reflected the mutual discrimination between "ego" and "the other," "native" and "exotic," as well as "China" and "world," in which the corresponding relationship between writers' "ego" and the described "the other" was hidden. According to multiple text materials, including news reports, geography books, historical biography, travels, textbooks, poetry, and images, four subtitles of "division of Africa," "deduction of blacks," "customs of African," and "exploration of Africa" were classified to discuss the "Africa" image narrated by authors in the late Qing dynasty and the reflected "China." From the image of foreign country, rich research contents were hidden in such Africa image, which did not simply copy the reality of foreign country, but also reflected on political encounters, cultural circumstances, and ideology of China watchers. The presentation of "Africa" was not so much a narration of "Africa" but rather as the symbolic performance of self-culture.