馬來西亞檳城地方華人移民社會的形成與發展

Abstract

「地方」(locale)，是社會學家紀登斯(Anthony Giddens)「結構化理論」(Structuration Theory)的常用概念，意思是指：在時間與空間「共在」 (co-presence)的條件下所區域化的社會系統。至於「檳城地方」(Penang Locale)，則是指：以馬來西亞檳城華人社會為「主要地方」(dominant locale)，在全球與地方的政治、經濟與文化力的共同作用下，所變動不居的「社會群系」 (social formation)。 本研究以「社會群系」為中尺度概念，理解馬來西亞檳城華人社會的形成與發展；一方面藉以實踐地理學子對於「脈絡研究法」 (contextual approach)的研究想像之外，另一方面則透過「直觀─詮釋歷程」(intuition－hermeneutics process) 的反覆循環，借深厚書寫(thick description)，以呈現「檳城地方」的脈絡意涵。全文共分七章，除第壹章「緒論」，第柒章「前文結論與未竟之功」之外，其餘五章的主題分別為：「在亞澳季風環流脈動下的區域化」、「被納入大英帝國殖民體系的檳榔嶼地方」、「『全球帝國主義』與檳城的區域發展」、「檳城華人社會的形成與發展」、「檳城華人社會的變貌：『神道設教』與『地域社會』的互動觀察」等。The term ‘locale’ means a setting or context for social interaction. It was proposed by Anthony Giddens in his development of “structuration theory” suggested how the flow of human agency “binds” time and space. In other words, “Penang locale” means Penang as dominant locale in the context of the global and local network. Society is always in a process of becoming. And the term “social formation” was primarily derived from Louis Althuss, carries the notion that society is an ever- changing process. Social formation provided a middle level conceptualization which aid in connecting the general economic rationale of the accumulation of capital with specific forms and relations, as well as State institution. There are 7 chapters in this article, contextual approach, intuition－hermeneutics process and thick description will be actualized.