西藏宗教朝圣旅游场中的边缘人现象及其边缘性体验

西藏因其独特的地球第三极地貌特征与藏传佛教以及藏族文化特色而对国内外游客展现了巨大而"神秘"的魅力,并日益激发了西藏旅游的热潮。相应地,这一旅游热潮也引发了西藏旅游研究的逐年扩容,并涌现了一批很有理论价值的学术成果。文章在充分借鉴前人成果的基础上,进一步以认同理论作为基本框架,将西藏的宗教场所作为可以为宗教信徒和旅游者共享的朝圣旅游空间,对西藏宗教旅游中的"旅游者群体"和"朝圣者群体"因群体认同与自我认同的作用而在面临外在一致性挑战时所引发的群体分化及交往张力进行探究。通过实证与思辨的结合研究,文章将研究的焦点集中在以下几个方面:首先,按宗教信仰程度的不同把上述两类群体进一步分为休闲愉悦旅游者、泛宗教信仰旅游者、权宜型朝圣者、苦行型朝圣者4个亚群体,并对各亚群体的旅行目的、体验深度、特征进行剖析。其次,通过对宗教旅游场中的"边缘人"的概念化过程,将4个亚群间的交集或过渡群体界定为"边缘人"群体,并根据其行为目标、体验特征的不同将此"边缘人"群体再划分为"类朝圣者"的旅游者群体和"类旅游者"的朝圣者群体两个亚群,同时探讨"边缘人"这一群体因其独特的行为模式而在群体互动中所发挥的导向作用。最后,根据参与式观察研究,进一步提出宗教旅游情境中的"纯宗教场""宗教旅游场""旅游宗教场"和"世俗旅游场"几个范畴,并根据旅游者与朝圣者在不同场中的主导或边缘地位的转化,构建出边缘人及边缘体验的动态演变模型。

Phenomenon of Marginal Men and Their Experience in Pilgrimage Tourism Fields in Tibet

Sometimes known as the world’s“third pole”and a special place to experience its unique Buddhism and culture,Tibet has been considered a“mysterious”location,and it appeals to both Chinese and overseas tourists.Those factors have helped promote the upsurge in Tibet tourism.Correspondingly,the tourist numbers have stimulated the ongoing expansion of Tibet tourism research,and several academic studies holding great theoretical value have emerged.The present paper builds upon findings about religious pilgrimage and the tourism experience,identity behavior and“marginal men”identity in the tourism experience,and Tibet tourism;taking identity theory as its basic framework,this study examines religious sites in Tibet as a pilgrimage tourism space that can be shared by religious believers and non-religious tourists.Further,this investigation explores group differentiation and communication tensions between tourist and pilgrim groups with respect to the roles of group identity and self-identification when confronted with external consistency issues in the context of Tibetan religious tourism.Through speculative and empirical research,the authors conducted their theoretical examination by focusing on the following aspects.First,we categorized tourist and pilgrim groups into four subgroups(leisure and pleasure tourists;mildly religious tourists;moderately religious pilgrims;and strongly religious pilgrims),and we analyzed the aims,depth of experience,and characteristics of those subgroups.We found that the experience of most tourists related to aesthetic pleasure or utilitarian experience;by contrast,the experience of most pilgrims related largely to religious practice.Accordingly,the effect of religious tourism was connected to the depth of understanding of religious doctrine and degree of interpretation of religious symbols.Even in Tibet—a holy land of Tibetan Buddhism with a strong religious atmosphere—tourism cannot simply be equated with the pursuit of religious pilgrimage or a divine experience.Second,by conceptualizing the marginal men at the intersection of pilgrims and tourists in religious tourism,we identified an intersection or transition group among the above four subgroups—the marginal group.We divided this marginal group into two subgroups:pilgrim-like tourists group and tourists-like pilgrim group.We made this categorization based on difference in behavioral goals and experience characteristics;we also investigated the key role that marginal men might play in group interactions as a result of their maverick behavioral characteristics.Third,following situation observations,we propose the existence of the following fields with respect to religious tourism:pure religious;religious-touristic;touristic-religious;and secular touristic.We also constructed a dynamic evolution model of the marginal men and marginal experience according to the transformation of the leading or marginal status of tourists and pilgrims in those different fields.Briefly,in the early stage of tourism development,the behavior of visitors to religious sites is largely dominated by religious activities,and tourists are peripheral;with tourism expansion,the numbers of pilgrims and tourists become balanced,and marginal men appear in the respective groups;as tourism develops to maturity,tourists become dominant,by that stage,pilgrims are peripheral;with decline in tourism development,pilgrims regain their dominancy,and tourists return to being marginal.There is also the possibility of mutation,whereby development does not simply follow a single linear pattern.