Spacetime, connectivity, multipolarity, juxtaposition

The term ‘global Middle Ages’ has been critiqued for potentially having the effect of fitting the world into a historiographical category invented by and primarily applying to Europe, especially Western Europe. With the aim of circumventing the ideological underpinnings of ‘global’ and ‘medieval,’ inventing new meanings for old markers of temporality, and exploring methodological frameworks for establishing a comparative outlook, this essay considers three aspects in reconceptualizing medieval studies: the notion of spacetime for thinking of periodization in world histories and cultures; a focus on multipolarity, individual agency, and cultural hybridity in studying trans-regional connectivity; and a model of juxtaposition that goes beyond comparative literature.

近年來, “環球中世紀”這一詞語受到批評, 因爲它有可能把世界歷史納入一個主要應用于歐洲特別是西歐的歷史敘事之中。本文對“中世紀研究”做出重新思考, 目的在於避開“環球”和“中古”的意識形態内涵, 為舊有的時間標志重新發明新意義, 同時也在方法論層面探索新的比較框架。討論主要從三方面進行: 一, 以物理學中的“時空”概念來思考世界歷史分期; 二, 在研究跨地域連結時, 聚焦于多極化、個人能動力以及文化混雜性; 三, 采取與以往的比較文學有所區別的并置模式考察世界文化的異同。