马克·本德尔（美国）
分析、阐释和翻译中国西南部史诗（或者说世界上绝大部分史诗传统）时遇到的最大问题，就是如何处理物质文化事项的图像和例证以及史诗中与其相关的社会进程。许多中国西南部史诗被誉为当地风俗的“百科全书”，大量这样的风俗与物质文化息息相关，比如服饰、工具、武器、饮食方式、建筑和其他民间技艺、植物、动物、环境资源（例如人类在一定区域内利用和/或分享的陆地和水资源）。本文将要讨论以下几个方面的问题：史诗中物质意象的认定；对与物质文化及环境相关事项名称和术语的跨文化翻译；以数码照片和视频的形式呈现的进程，以及物品超越文本以外的图像；供交互式使用（以数字方式或实际使用）的手工艺品；倡议设立图像资源档案以处理、理解和交流史诗物质层面的内容，等等。本文将以彝族和苗族的史诗为例，援引以下理论加以分析：物质文化研究中的民俗理论，生态文学理论，媒体处理与档案化理论。
Strategies for Supporting References to Folk Material Culture and Imagery of the Environment in Yi and Miao Epics
Mark Bender (USA）
One of the largest problems in analyzing, interpreting, and translating epics from southwest China – and indeed most or all epic traditions anywhere – is the challenge of dealing with images and references to items of material culture and their associated social processes in the epics. Many epics from southwest China have been described as “encyclopedias” of local lore, a great deal of such lore being related to material culture in the form of clothing, tools, weapons, foodways, architecture, and other folk crafts, as well as plant, animal, and environmental resources such as land and water forms which humans utilize and/or share space with in the region. Among the themes to be discussed are identification of material imagery in the epics, cross-cultural translation of names and terms associated with items of material culture and the environment, assembling extra-textual images of objects and processes in the form of digital photos and videos, assembling artifacts for interactive use (both actual and digital), suggestions for creating an archive of images as resources for approaching, understanding, and communicating the material content of epics, etc.. The paper will draw on relevant theory from the folklore of material culture studies, eco-literature theory, and media processing and archiving studies, utilizing epics of the Yi and Miao ethnic groups as examples.
主讲人简介
马克·本德尔博士，1995年在俄亥俄州立大学获中国文学博士学位。现为俄亥俄州立大学东亚语言文学系主任，教授；教学与研究方向是中国文学、民俗学、评弹表演研究，代表性著作有《梅与竹：中国的苏州评弹传统》（2003年）。在中国少数民族文化研究和翻译实践中用功颇深。早在1982年就将彝族叙事长诗《赛玻嫫》译成英文，翻译出版了《达斡尔族民间故事选》、《中国五十五个少数民族婚俗志》等。长期从事苗族史诗的英译与研究工作，并多次到黔东南苗族地区考察，译著颇丰，如《蝴蝶妈妈：中国贵州苗族的创世史诗》（英文版，2006年）以苗族古歌传统对答式结构，采用长短句形式翻译，每组史诗前有题解为读者提供导读，书前有今旦专为英文版写的前言。与中国苗族学者合译有《苗族史诗》（苗、汉、英三种文字版，2011）。与梅维恒合编有《哥伦比亚中国民俗和俗文学文集》（2011年）。近年关注口头传统和书写文学中的自然与环境问题，兼及西南中国和东北印度的民族诗歌趋向研究。
About the Speaker
Mark Bender is a professor in Chinese and Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the Ohio State University. Professor Bender specializes in traditional performance and performance-connected literature of China, including local Han and ethnic minority cultures. He teaches Chinese and East Asian culture courses, a course on Traditional Performance in Contemporary East Asia, an introduction to folklore in East Asia, and seminars that have included ethnic minority epic, Chinese prosimetric literature, and oral and written ethnic poetry. Bender has published on numerous subjects, including Suzhou professional storytelling (pingtan) and the oral and written literatures of several Chinese minority cultures, such as the Yi, Miao (Hmong), and Daur. His books include Plum and Bamboo: China's Suzhou Chantefable Tradition (University of Illinois Press, 2003), Butterfly Mother: Miao (Hmong) Creation Epics from Guizhou Province, China (Hackett Publishing, 2006), The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature, edited with Victor Mair (2011). A recent article is "Dying Hunters, Poison Plants, and Mute Slaves: Nature and Tradition in ContemporaryNuosu Yi Poetry (Asian Highlands Perspectives, 2009). Other projects include a study of nature themes in Yi oral and written literature, an annotated translation of a major Yi epic, a tri-lingual edition of a Miao epic poem, and an examination of trends in ethnic poetry in southwest China and North-East India. He is also interested in contemporary indigenous poetry in Asia and its relation to tradition and the environment.
