A study on the historical consciousness of Chinese through the analysis of the genealogies' compilation

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01163
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 04030:Cultural anthropology and folklore-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Segawa Masahisa 東北大学, 東北アジア研究センター, 教授 (00187832)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 宗族 / 族譜 / 前近代中国 / 歴史人類学 / 祖先祭祀 / 父系出自 / 超世代的連続性 / 価値観

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I traced family life in pre-modern China and understood underlying kinship values through a thorough analysis of a genealogical book detailing the genealogical relations of a lineage in the New Territories of Hong Kong. This is a product of my historical-anthropological study in which I have tried to trace past social conditions based on the analysis of written materials. In it, I reconstructed the past status of family relations and investigated into the underlying kinship values and norms in pre-modern Chinese society using the data on family composition, adoption, entrusting of ancestor worship, widowhood, remarriage, and concubinage extracted from a genealogical record of a lineage.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来、族譜は死者の名前や系譜上法のみを羅列した無味乾燥な文書であり、そこから過去の家族の実体を明らかにすることは不可能だと思われてきた。本研究は、族譜という文書資料のみを用いつつ、文化人類学的な親族関係の分析手法を駆使することにより、前近代中国の家族のあり方や超世代的に継承されるべきと考えられていた価値に関する意識を明らかにし得たことは、歴史人類学の研究上、類例を見ない成果である。