- 期刊
“文明”话语与19世纪上半叶美国对俄勒冈地区的主权诉求
The Civilization Discourse and the American Claim on the Oregon Territory in the First Half of the Nineteenth-Century
摘要
19世纪中期，美国与英国争夺俄勒冈地区的主权，“文明”话语在其中扮演了关键角色。在争夺俄勒冈地区的过程中，美国探险者和政治家一方面以“文明”的高下之分为依据，证明自身从印第安人手中夺占俄勒冈地区土地的合理性，另一方面也强调当地的印第安原住民具有被“文明化”的可能性。围绕“文明化”印第安人的问题，美国探险者和政治家突出英国移民的低劣道德品行及其母国的君主制度，认为它们给俄勒冈地区的印第安人造成了不良影响。在此基础上，美国探险者和政治家主张只有具备优良道德品质、先进技术和共和制政府的美国才适合占领俄勒冈地区。但是，对技术扩张和先进制度的强调着眼于快速占领土地和建立政治机构，实际上已经违背了他们对“文明化”印第安人的宣称，体现出了“文明”话语的多面性与虚伪性。
並列摘要
The studies of the U. S. foreign relations tend to overlook the role that the indigenous people played in the American claim of Oregon. Instead, they focus on the economic interests, migration promotion, and the Anglo-American relations. Admittedly, the Manifest Destiny preached the replacement of the indigenous people with white settlers and its underlining logic. Nevertheless, it lost the sight of the complexities in the whites' encounters with Native Americans, especially the intricate ways that the idea of "civilization" worked in these interactions. This article demonstrates that in the struggle over the Oregon Territory, American pioneers and statesmen justified the land grabbing from the indigenous people with the hierarchy of "civilizations". Meanwhile, they underlined the Native Americans' possibility for civilization. From this point, they highlighted the harm to Native Americans because of inferior British and Russian moral standards as well as their monarchy, and argued that only the United States with superior moral standards, advanced technology, and republican government should occupy the region. Such emphasis on advanced technology and government system served to occupy the native lands as soon as possible, thus forming strong contrast to their claim of civilizing Native Americans. This case underlines the complexity as well as the hypocrisy of the "civilization" discourse.