本論文係以空間閱讀方法來探討羅斯的《美國爰歌》(American Pastoral, 1997)中猶太移民之變動、離散、混雜之族裔身分。本文援用艾格紐(John Agnew)的漸進式地方概念作為基本框架,再配合其他學者如:克里佛德(James Clifford)的旅行身份觀念、霍爾(Stuart Hall)的離散認同論述及瑪茜(Doreen Massey)的地方認同理論,以討論地景/空間中的行為實踐與猶太移民身份認同之複雜及變化不定的對應關係。本文論述之重點環繞著三大主軸:1.隨著時空變遷,猶太移民與美國黑人及白人之族群關係,亦隨之產生變化;2.不同世代之猶太移民,因生長背景之差異,故對於美國中產階級文化及資本主義持有不同之看法;3.貿易國際化及全球化肇使個人身份認同產生變化,故自從工廠外移至國外,美國猶太移民西蒙開始建構超越國家區域之國際身份。全論文所透露之空間閱讀精義乃係:美國猶太移民居住之家園、工廠及城市背後所牽涉之社會、文化及政治關係乃是變化不定的,故其族裔身份也絕非固定不變的。
This article explores how Jewish migrants in America construct their diasporic ethnic identity through the spatial reading of Philip Roth's American Pastoral. Agnew's progressive concept of place, Clifford's traveling identity, Hall's diasporic identity and Massey's theory of place identity are used as the theoretical framework to support the discussions around three axes: 1. fluctuant relations among Jewish migrants, American blacks and whites; 2. Jewish migrants' different viewpoints about bourgeois culture and capitalism; and 3. development of an international identity due to the relocation of factories abroad. A conclusion is made that Jewish migrants' ethnic identity is never complete and is subject to change because the socio-cultural and political relations behind home, factory and city can never be fixed and eternal.