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Etnográfica

versão impressa ISSN 0873-6561

Etnográfica v.10 n.1 Lisboa maio 2006

 

OS “CAMPONESES” E O “IMPERADOR”. REFLEXÕES ETNOGRÁFICAS SOBRE ORIZICULTURA INTENSIVA E ESTRATIFICAÇÃO SOCIAL NO SUDESTE DA CHINA RURAL

 

Gonçalo Duro dos Santos *

 

Este artigo revisita o tema da distinção social nas sociedades humanas, a partir de material etnográfico recentemente colectado numa aldeia de linhagem situada na região de cultivo intensivo de arroz irrigado do Sudeste da China subtropical. O artigo sugere que as metáforas imperiais de estratificação social usadas pelos “camponeses” desta aldeia para se posicionarem no mundo são parte integrante de um esquema prático de estratificação social, cuja popularidade pode ser parcialmente explicada pelo facto de este esquema se encontrar profundamente enredado num modo de vida agrário imemorial assente na prática de orizicultura intensiva. Sugere-se ainda que este esquema cultural de estratificação social com ressonâncias orizícolas não é apenas um “modelo ideológico de”, mas é também um “ modelo ideológico para” a distinção social, que está por isso sujeito ao poder transformativo da história.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: orizicultura intensiva; distinção e estratificação social; cultura; prática; história; China.

 

THE “FARMERS” AND THE “EMPEROR”. ETHNOGRAPHIC REFLECTIONS ON WET-RICE CULTIVATION AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN RURAL SOUTHEASTERN CHINA

This article revisits the topic of social distinction in human societies with ethnographic material recently collected in a Cantonese lineage-village situated in the wet-rice farming region of subtropical Southeastern China. The article suggests that the imperial metaphor of social stratification is frequently used by the village “farmers” to position themselves in the world is part and parcel of a practical scheme of social stratification whose popularity can be partially explained by it being deeply rooted in a way of life based on the immemorial practice of wet-rice farming. It is also suggested that this wet-rice permeated popular scheme of social stratification is not only an “ideological model of” but is also an “ ideological model for” social distinction that is thus subject to the transforming power of history.

KEYWORDS: wet-rice farming; social distinction and stratification; culture; practice; history; China

 

 

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* Gonçalo Duro dos Santos

Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa

Universidade de Manchester

goncalo.santos@ics.ul.pt

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