从有领玉璧到宽面手镯:厚重首饰的跨文化社会符号与视觉权力

From Jade Collared Disk to Wide Bangles: The Social Symbolism and Visual Power of Wide Ring-Shaped Ornaments Across Cultures

  • 摘要: 宽扁环饰在不同文化和历史语境下虽仅短暂流行,却又反复独立地出现于多个区域,体现了其在造型语言与社会功能层面的跨文化共性。针对视觉结构高度相似但文化背景各异的现象,本研究选取了东亚与东南亚青铜时代的有领璧、西非伊博族19至20世纪早期的黄铜踝环(ogba)以及20世纪中期欧美酚醛树脂宽面手镯这3个案例进行对比研究。结果表明,这类饰品普遍具有结构夸张、材质特殊、佩戴不便的特征,其“牺牲实用性以强化象征性”的特质,使之成为了“高成本信号”的典型载体。本研究基于人类学和社会学经典理论,分析了这类饰品在身份建构、阶层区隔与仪式表达中的作用,探讨了其在当代设计中的潜力,最后提出了宽扁环饰在当代文创语境中可视为一种文化母型与视觉符号资源,通过材质重构与功能转译实现创新。这类器物不应仅被简单视为传统符号的复刻,而应作为文化触媒,联结过去与当下,在新兴的社交和艺术场景中拓展其表现维度与文化生命力。

     

    Abstract: Although wide ring-shaped ornaments only circulated briefly across different cultures and historical contexts, their repeated and independent emergence in multiple regions reveals a shared cross-cultural logic in both visual form and social function. In response to this phenomenon where structural similarities appear across diverse cultural settings, this study compares 3 representative cases: The Bronze Age jade collared disk (Youlingbi) from east and southeast Asia, the brass anklets(ogba) of the Igbo people in west Africa during the late 19th to early 20th centuries, and the bakelite bangles in the mid-20th century western societies. The research identifies the common features of these kinds of jewelry including exaggerated structures, rare or innovative materials, and impracticality of wearing, which reflect a shared mechanism of "costly signaling" through aesthetic excess. By incorporating classic anthropological and sociological theories, the study examines how these ornaments contribute to identity formation, class distinction, and ritual expression. Furthermore, it explores their potential in contemporary design by proposing wide-form bangles as "cultural archetypes" and visual symbols. In today's creative design, these forms can be reimagined through material reconfiguration and functional reinterpretation. Ultimately, this study argues that such artifacts should not be viewed merely as revivals of tradition, but should be seen as cultural catalysts which interfaces the past and present, the individual and collective, the visible and the symbolic, thereby acquiring new expressive dimensions and cultural vitality within evolving social and artistic contexts.

     

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