建設或建構？以新加坡「紅頭巾」為例探討女性與國家的關係

Nation Building or Heroine Making: A Study of the Relationship between "Samsui Women" and Singapore Nation-state

吳佩瑾(Pei-Jin Wu)

指導教授 ： 蔣斌 ； 林開忠

國立清華大學/人文社會學院/人類學研究所/碩士(2010年)

https://doi.org/10.6843/NTHU.2010.00098

摘要

本研究針對早年自中國南渡至新加坡從事建築業的華人移民女性進行探討，這群女性勞工被稱作「紅頭巾」，泛指二十世紀初期自中國華南地區移動到新加坡從事建築工作的女性移民，由於工作時特殊且一致的穿著，加上多數來自中國廣東三水，因此也以「三水婆（婦）」（或Samsui women）稱呼她們。在新加坡後殖民時代因應國家認同需求而成為國家象徵與歷史代表。在本論文中，我將「紅頭巾」視為第一代至新馬地區之華人女性移民的其中一群，透過分析「紅頭巾」身為移民女性的生命經驗，瞭解她們在經過時代與社會變遷之後，其國族身分轉換及被整體情境形塑的歷程，揭露後殖民國家如何利用女性移民生命經驗以構築自我歷史論述與建構國家認同的手法；另一方面，輔以西馬來西亞（West Malaysia）第一代華人女性移民的生命經驗做為比對，加上一般大眾的社會記憶與媒體論述等種種闡述，以瞭解女性移民的生命經驗與現代國家認同之間的關係，並從不同時代社會脈絡以及各種媒體、社群的記憶與論述，探詢「紅頭巾」在新加坡社會受到形塑和建構的歷程。隨著政治、經濟與社會情境的變遷，「紅頭巾」跨國流動與移居、適應的生命經驗，成為新加坡社會闡述與再現自身記憶的腳本，更化約成一項因應新加坡國族認同需求而形成的象徵，在當代成為個人展現其國族認同的載體。然而再造過程之中發生的爭議與權力競逐的現象，以及個人內心的衝突和矛盾想法，則突顯出新加坡國族認同的分歧和差異。
本研究比對第一代移動至新加坡、馬來西亞的華人女性移民的生命經驗及社會記憶的變遷，以討論女性與國家的關係。我從人類學討論女性與國家的概念著手，討論當代新加坡特殊的社會情境中，從事建築業的「紅頭巾」特別受到建國論述的關注的理由，進而探討這個現象與新加坡的歷史背景及後殖民情境的關聯。從「人」的角度著眼，我視新加坡「紅頭巾」為當代第一代新馬華人女性移民的典型範例，並將遷移至馬來西亞，尤其是海峽殖民地的第一代華人女性移民做為對比，瞭解這些女性的遷移背景與個人生命經驗，分析她們分別在新加坡或馬來西亞的社會論述中的呈現，從以比對及討論當代新加坡以國家做為思考依歸，而對於「紅頭巾」進行單向論述的特殊目的，以提供一個對比的角度。以「情境」的層面切入，本論文特別關注於新加坡後殖民的時空背景，討論此時代強調紅頭巾做為第一代華人女性移民的勞動與生活經驗之各種現象，分析這些現象與新加坡國族意識建構結合在一起的論述所反映出的意涵。
本研究之目的主要在於瞭解新加坡突顯紅頭巾女性移民為建國英雄的背後涵義，尤其是女性形象與國家意識的相互建構與關聯。一方面，媒體論述透過抽取個人主體的部分生命經驗，在實質環境中進行以國家為主的觀點記錄，另一方面，這些論述進一步地輸入國家意識與解釋於紅頭巾的女性形象，並期使一般社會大眾的想法與國家思考邏輯一致，尤其將重點放置在她們自中國移居至新加坡之後的勞動經驗，以給予後殖民時期的當代新加坡建立國家意識之意象與符號，並不斷在此情境中強化、複製與再生產。
研究中發現，對女性移民而言，移動的經驗與其後適應之意義應更擴大，也更需要重視她們對於移居地的詮釋及進行詮釋的脈絡。另一方面，我也發現女性經驗受到歷史、文化、國家權力等交織脈絡的影響，與製造的、建構的、想像的國家認同進行相互建構，於新加坡建國以降至現今後殖民時代，以國家認同對第一代從事建築勞動的女性移民「紅頭巾」賦予特殊論述，導致她們必須藉助這些受到國族認同建構的現代論述，對於過去到今日之自身地位及謀生策略的既存社會壓力與刻板印象進行顛覆，也順應如此描述而被收編在新加坡國家認同的論述中。在新加坡的社會情境中，這批女性移民的勞動力與國家建構之關係，集中在經濟發展層面的建構，一方面企圖證明女性透過經濟地位的提升而發展的身份認同，一方面則藉由她們來詮釋對於國家的意識與認同，然而個人主體經驗與國家認同意識的連結之間，仍存在了父權宰制的關係。
透過瞭解個人主體生命經驗的差異，可以檢視國家藉由創造及操弄社會差異，以達到人們認同經驗一致的合理性，尤其是以女性做為主體的個人經驗，更具有反應社會整體結構差異的意義，而此種社會整體結構差異造成的國家認同論述，則是本研究所關懷的重點。

關鍵字

新加坡 ； 紅頭巾 ； 女性移民 ； 國家建構 ； 認同

並列摘要

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the life experiences of the Chinese single women who immigrated to Singapore at the beginning of the 20th century to work on construction sites. They were referred to as “Hong Tou Jin” (Red Head-scarf) in Chinese because of the red headscarves they wore while working, and as "Samsui women" in Englsh due to the common knowledge that most of them came from Samsui County in Guangdong Province, South China. These women immigrated to Singapore when the city approached to the end of British colonization, and gradually as well as intriguingly, these women became a celebrated icon in the history of the nation. Basing on the analysis of the Hong Tou Jin women's life experiences, this thesis aims at a better understanding of how the nation with a colonial past uses the experiences of these female immigrants to build up its histories and national identity.
To understand the stories against a broader regional-historical background, this thesis also compares the diverse histories of Southern Chinese women immigrants in Singapore and West Malaysia. Through the comparison, the author reveals how this basically common cohort of Southern Chinese women immigrants are attributed with highly differentiated images both in the collective memories of dialect-based social groupings of Chinese communities and in the media portrayals of respective countries. The author further shows that this differentiation is closely related to the differences in the histories of nation building between Singapore and Malaysia.
The social construction of the image of “Heroines of Nation Building” for the Hong Tou Jin women in Singapore was recounted and analyzed in detail. This process of social construction is not without obstacles, resistance and indifference derived from various social strata. Power struggles between, as well as internal conflicts within, dialect associations, plus diversified interests and intentions of concerned agents from different socio-economic classes, all exert influence on the representations of Hong Tou Jin. The processes in a sense accentuate the differences amongst Singaporeans' national identities.
The thesis demonstrates that for female immigrants, their experiences during the immigration and their adaptation to the new land deserve more attention then they are currently receiving from scholarly works. More efforts should be devoted to the interpretation of their decisions and intentions to immigrate. In appearance, Singapore State currently recognizes Hong Tou Jin’s contribution as construction laborers who helped to build the nation and to give its people their identity, and hence having earned their place in the history books. But is this state-sanctioned image doing justice to the individual women immigrants? Judging from the contemporary representation of Hong Tou Jin in Singaporean society, the relationship between the efforts of these female immigrants and the building of the nation are mainly economical, though a lighthearted feminist twist – that those women came to Singapore by themselves and worked on construction sites side by side with men. Deeper reflection on the whole “heroine making” process shows that, (1) the iconic “Heroine of Nation Building” status that the Hong Tou Jin enjoys is largely denied to the majority of women immigrants working in domains not selectively recognized by the public, such as house-maid, waitress or even tin mine and robber plantation workers; and (2) the personal experiences of these Hong Tou Jin women, both before and after being made “Heroine of Nation Building” demonstrates that there is still undeniably a paternal dominance in the linkage between working women and national recognition.
By studying the different experiences of individuals, it is possible to examine how the state, through manipulating social status and collective representation, creates national recognition of a specific group of woman laborers. Recounting this story from a female standpoint is significant in the understanding of social structures – the differences of which cause differences in national identify and national acceptance of specific subaltern groups. This significance is the core idea that this thesis aims at highlighting.

Keyword: Singapore, Samsui women, female immigrant, nation building, identity

並列關鍵字

Singapore ； Samsui women ； female immigrant ； nation building ； identity

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　　　　　會研究季刊 41: 53－98。

恩格斯 Engels, Friedrich Von

班納迪克˙安德森 Anderson, Benedict