I promise you that I will not sing. I will spare you that, at least.
我保证我不会在台上唱歌，至少在这一点上大家可以放心。
But I am a historian with a background in philosophy, and my main area of research is basically the history of Southeast Asia,
但我是一位有哲学背景的历史学家，我的主要研究领域是东南亚历史，
with a focus on 19th-century colonial Southeast Asia.
侧重于19世纪的东南亚殖民史。
And over the last few years, what I've been doing is really tracing the history of certain ideas that shape our viewpoint,
在过去的几年里，我一直在追溯某些思想的历史，这些想法塑造了我们的视角，
the way we in Asia, in Southeast Asia, look at ourselves and understand ourselves.
并影响了我们亚洲人、东南亚人看待自己、理解自己的方式。
Now, there's one thing that I cannot explain as a historian, and this has been puzzling me for a long time,
作为一名历史学家，有一件事我一直无法解释，并且这件事困扰了我很久：
and this is how and why certain ideas, certain viewpoints do not seem to ever go away. And I don't know why.
为什么某些特定的想法和观点似乎永远无法消失。我不明白为什么。
And in particular, I'm interested to understand why some people -- not all, by no means
我特别感兴趣的是，为什么某些人--不是所有人，无意冒犯，
but some people in postcolonial Asia still hold on to a somewhat romanticized view of the colonial past,
某些人身处后殖民时代的亚洲，却仍旧对殖民历史持有较为浪漫化的看法，
see it through kind of rose-tinted lenses as perhaps a time that was benevolent or nice or pleasant,
他们透过玫瑰色的眼镜，觉得那段历史或许是仁慈、美好或愉快的，
even though historians know the realities of the violence and the oppression and the darker side of that entire colonial experience.
即便历史学家深知整段殖民历史的暴力、压迫与黑暗面的真面目。
So let's imagine that I build a time machine for myself.
假设我为自己造了一台时光机器。
I build a time machine, I send myself back to the 1860s, a hundred years before I was born.
我造了一台时光机，把自己送回到19世纪60年代，那是我出生前的100年。
Oh dear, I've just dated myself. OK, I go back a hundred years before I was born.
糟糕，我刚刚暴露了年龄。好，让我们回到我出生的100年前。
Now, if I were to find myself in the context of colonial Southeast Asia in the 19th century, I would not be a professor. Historians know this.
如果我发现我自己生活在19世纪殖民时代的东南亚，我绝对无法成为一名教授。历史学家很清楚这一点。
And yet, despite that, there's still some quarters
尽管如此，仍然有一些人
that somehow want to hold on to this idea that that past was not as murky, that there was a romanticized side to it.
想要坚信殖民的历史没有那么阴暗，仍有浪漫的一面。
Now, here is where I, as a historian, I encounter the limits of history, because I can trace ideas.
作为一名历史学家，我正是在这里遭遇了历史的瓶颈，因为我可以追溯思想，
I can find out the origins of certain clichés, certain stereotypes.
我可以找出某些陈词滥调、某些刻板印象的起源。
I can tell you who came up with it, where and when and in which book.
我可以告诉你这是谁想出来的，是何时何地在哪本书中提出的。
But there's one thing I cannot do: I cannot get into the internal, subjective mental universe of someone and change their mind.
但有一件事我做不到：我无法进入一个人内在的主观精神世界并改变他的想法。
And I think this is where and why, over the last few years, I'm increasingly drawn to things like psychology and cognitive behavioral therapy;
这也是为什么在过去的几年里，我越发被心理学和认知行为疗法等所吸引；
because in these fields, scholars look at the persistence of ideas.
因为在这些领域，学者可以研究思想的顽固性。
Why do some people have certain prejudices? Why are there certain biases, certain phobias?
为什么有些人会持有某些偏见、成见，甚至某些恐惧症呢？
We live, unfortunately, sadly, in a world where, still, misogyny persists, racism persists, all kinds of phobias.
很不幸，也很可悲的是，我们都生活在一个厌女症、种族歧视与各种恐惧症依旧存续的世界。
Islamophobia, for instance, is now a term. And why do these ideas persist?
比如伊斯兰恐惧症现在甚至成为了一个新名词。为什么这些想法能持久存在呢？
Many scholars agree that it's partly because, when looking at the world,
很多学者认为，部分原因是因为当我们看这个世界时，
we fall back, we fall back, we fall back on a finite pool, a small pool of basic ideas that don't get challenged.
我们在朝一个有限的区域不停地撤退、撤退、撤退，这个区域中都是一些不会被挑战的基本想法。
Look at how we, particularly us in Southeast Asia, represent ourselves to ourselves and to the world.
来看看我们，特别是在东南亚的人们，是如何向我们自己和世界展现自己的。
Look at how often, when we talk about ourselves, my viewpoint, my identity, our identity,
看看我们在讨论到自己，我的观点、我的身份、我们的身份时，
invariably, we fall back, we fall back, we fall back, we fall back on the same set of ideas, all of which have histories of their own.
我们往往都会倒退、倒退、倒退，退回同一套想法上，这些想法都有其自身的历史根源。
Very simple example: we live in Southeast Asia, which is very popular with tourists from all over the world.
非常简单的一个例子：我们生活在东南亚，一个全世界的游客都心驰神往的地方。
And I don't think that's a bad thing, by the way.
顺便一提，我并不觉得这是一件坏事。
I think it's good that tourists come to Southeast Asia, because it's part and parcel of broadening your worldview and meeting cultures, etc, etc.
我认为让游客们来到东南亚是一件好事，因为这能够拓宽你的世界观、促进不同文化的交流，等等。
But look at how we represent ourselves through the tourist campaigns, the tourist ads that we produce.
可是看看我们在旅游宣传和广告里是如何表现自己的。
There will be the obligatory coconut tree, banana tree, orangutan. And the orangutan doesn't even get paid.
千篇一律的椰子树、香蕉树和猩猩。猩猩甚至都没拿到片酬。
Look at how we represent ourselves. Look at how we represent nature.
看看我们是怎么表现自己、怎么表现大自然的。
Look at how we represent the countryside. Look at how we represent agricultural life.
看看我们是怎么表现乡村的。看看我们是怎么表现农业生活的。
Watch our sitcoms. Watch our dramas. Watch our movies.
看看我们的情景喜剧，看看我们的电视剧，看看我们的电影。
It's very common, particularly in Southeast Asia, when you watch these sitcoms,
一个在东南亚尤其普遍的现象是，在这些情景喜剧里面，
if there's someone from the countryside, invariably, they're ugly, they're funny, they're silly, they're without knowledge.
如果有人来自乡村，那人无一例外地长得很丑，很搞笑、很憨，并且没有文化。
It's as if the countryside has nothing to offer.
这就好像乡村一无是处一样。
Our view of nature, despite all our talk, despite all our talk about Asian philosophy, Asian values,
我们对于自然的观点，尽管我们一直在谈论亚洲人的哲学、亚洲人的价值观，
despite all our talk about how we have an organic relationship to nature, how do we actually treat nature in Southeast Asia today?
尽管我们一直在说，我们与大自然保持着原生态关系，但事实上，我们如今是怎样对待东南亚的自然环境的？
We regard nature as something to be defeated and exploited. And that's the reality.
我们把大自然视为应当被打败与剥削的对象。这就是现实。
So the way in which we live in our part of the world, postcolonial Southeast Asia,
所以在我们居住的地方，在后殖民时代的东南亚，
in so many ways, for me, bears residual traces to ideas, tropes, clichés, stereotypes that have a history.
我们的生活方式对我来说，在很多方面仍旧残留着某些具有历史渊源的想法、套路、陈词滥调和刻板印象的痕迹。
This idea of the countryside as a place to be exploited, the idea of countryfolk as being without knowledge
诸如“乡村是有待开发的”、“乡下人是没有文化的”这些想法，
these are ideas that historians like me can go back, we can trace how these stereotypes emerged.
都是像我这样的历史学家可以回溯的，我们可以追溯这些刻板印象是如何出现的。
And they emerged at a time when Southeast Asia was being governed according to the logic of colonial capitalism.
而在它们所出现的时间点，东南亚正处于殖民资本主义的统治之下。
And in so many ways, we've taken these ideas with us. They're part of us now.
在很多方面，我们都将这些思想传承了下来。它们已成为了我们的一部分。
But we are not critical in interrogating ourselves and asking ourselves, how did I have this view of the world?
但我们并没有以批判性的眼光去诘问我们自己，我的世界观从何而来？
How did I come to have this view of nature?
我的自然观从何而来？
How did I come to have this view of the countryside? How do I have this idea of Asia as exotic?
我对乡村的观念从何而来？我什么我会觉得亚洲有异域风情？

And we, Southeast Asians in particular, love to self-exoticize ourselves.
而且我们，尤其是我们东南亚人，很热衷于标榜自己的“异国情调”。
We've turned Southeast Asian identity into a kind of cosplay
我们已经将东南亚人的身份变成了一种角色扮演，
where you can literally go to the supermarket, go to the mall and buy your do-it-yourself exotic Southeast Asian costume kit.
你甚至可以在超市和商城里买到可以自制东南亚异域服饰的材料套装。
And we parade this identity, not asking ourselves how and when did this particular image of ourselves emerge. They all have a history, too.
而我们标榜这种身份，却不去扪心自问这种对自己的特定印象是何时、怎样产生的。它们也都有自己的历史背景。
And that's why, increasingly, as a historian, I find that as I encounter the limits of history, I see that I can't work alone anymore.
这也就是为什么，作为一个历史学家，当我发现自己碰到历史的局限时，我愈发地认为自己不能再独自工作了。
I can't work alone anymore, because there's absolutely no point in me doing my archival work,
我不能再独自工作了，因为对我来说，一个人继续进行档案研究实在没有任何意义，
there's no point in me seeking the roots of these ideas, tracing the genesis of ideas
寻找这些想法的根源、追溯它们的成因，然后发表在某个期刊上，
and then putting it in some journal to be read by maybe three other historians. There's absolutely no point.
供大概另外三个历史学家阅读，这实在是没有任何意义。
The reason why I think this is important is because our region, Southeast Asia, will, I believe, in the years to come,
我之所以认为这很重要，是因为我相信，我们的东南亚地区在未来的岁月之中，
go through enormous changes, unprecedented changes in our history,
将会经历翻天覆地、前所未有的剧变，
partly because of globalization, world politics, geopolitical contestations, the impact of technology, the Fourth Industrial Revolution...
部分原因是因为全球化、世界政治、地缘政治的争端、科学技术的冲击、第四次工业革命...
Our world as we know it is going to change.
我们所熟知的世界正要发生变化。
But for us to adapt to this change, for us to be ready for that change, we need to think out of the box,
但对我们来说，想要适应这种变化，并为这种变化做好准备，我们就需要打破陈规，
and we can't fall back, we can't fall back, we can't fall back on the same set of clichéd, tired, staid old stereotypes.
不能再后退、再倒退，再退回过去那套陈腐、乏味、守旧的刻板印象中去。
We need to think out, and that's why historians, we can't work alone now.
我们需要不落窠臼地思考，这也是为什么我们历史学家现在不能再独自工作了。
I, I need to engage with people in psychology, people in behavioral therapy.
我需要与心理学家和行为疗法的专家合作。
I need to engage with sociologists, anthropologists, political economists.
我需要与社会学家、人类学家、政治经济学家合作。
I need above all to engage with people in the arts and the media,
最重要的是，我需要与艺术家还有媒体合作，
because it's there, in that forum, outside the confines of the university, that these debates really need to take place.
因为正是在这个跳出大学局限的论坛，才能真正进行这些争论。
And they need to take place now,
我们现在就应该进行这些辩论，
because we need to understand that the way things are today are not determined by some fixed, iron historical railway track,
因为我们需要明白，当今世界的现状并不是由某些固定的历史轨迹而决定的，
but rather there are many other histories, many other ideas that were forgotten, marginalized, erased along the line.
而是由许多其他历史、许多被我们遗忘的、边缘化的、一路抹除的想法而决定的。
Historians like me, our job is to uncover all this, discover all this, but we need to engage this, we need to engage with society as a whole.
像我一样的历史学家的职责就是挖掘这一切、发现这一切，但我们还需要传达这一切，我们需要参与到整个社会当中。
So to go back to that time machine example I gave earlier.
那么回到我先前举的时间机器的例子。
Let's say this is a 19th-century colonial subject then, and a person's wondering,
假设这是一个19世纪的殖民地，有一个人在想，
"Will empire ever come to an end? Will there be an end to all this? Will we one day be free?"
“帝国统治到底会不会结束？这一切会有结束的一天吗？我们有朝一日能获得自由吗？”
So the person invents a time machine -- goes into the future and arrives here in postcolonial Southeast Asia today.
于是这个人发明了一台时光机--前往了未来，并且抵达了今天，后殖民时代的东南亚。
And the person looks around, and the person will see, well yes, indeed, the imperial flags are gone,
这个人环顾四周就会看到，确实，帝国的旗子不见了，
the imperial gunboats are gone, the colonial armies are gone.
他们的巡逻舰不见了，殖民者的军队也不见了。
There are new flags, new nation-states. There is independence after all. But has there been?
他看到了新的国旗、新的国家，他们最终还是迎来了独立。但这是真的独立吗？
The person then watches the tourist ads and sees again the banana tree, the coconut tree and the orangutan.
然后这个人看到了旅游广告，再次看见了香蕉树、椰子树和猩猩。
The person watches on TV and watches how images of an exotic Southeast Asia are being reproduced again and again by Southeast Asians.
这个人看电视，看到了东南亚人如何不厌其烦地不断再现东南亚异域风情的景象。
And the person might then come to the conclusion that, well, notwithstanding the fact that colonialism is over,
这个人可能会得出这样的结论：虽说从事实上来看，殖民时代已经结束，
we are still in so, so many ways living in the long shadow of the 19th century.
但我们在很多、很多方面仍旧生活在19世纪漫长的阴影之中。
And this, I think, has become my personal mission.
我认为这已经成为了我个人的使命。
The reason why I think history is so important and the reason why I think it's so important for history to go beyond history,
我之所以认为历史如此重要、非常有必要让历史超越历史，
because need to reignite this debate about who and what we are, all of us.
是因为需要重新点燃我们是谁、我们是什么的讨论，所有人都需要。
We talk about, "No, I have my viewpoint, you have your viewpoint."
我们说着，“不，我有我自己的观点，你也有你自己的观点。”
Well, that's partly true. Our viewpoints are never entirely our own individually.
这话也对，也不对。我们的观点永远不会是完全只属于我们个人的。
We're all social beings. We're historical beings. You, me, all of us, we carry history in us.
我们都是社会的存在，是历史的存在。你、我、所有人，我们身上都承载着历史。
It's in the language we use. It's in the fiction we write. It's in the movies we choose to watch.
历史流淌在我们使用的语言里、我们撰写的小说里、我们选择观赏的电影里。
It's in the images that we conjure when we think of who and what we are.
当我们思考自己是谁、是什么时，历史也存在于脑海浮现的画面之中。
We are historical beings. We carry history with us, and history carries us along.
我们是历史的存在。我们身上承载着历史，历史也承载着我们。
But while we are determined by history, it is my personal belief that we need not be trapped by history,
虽说我们是被历史所决定的，但我个人相信，我们不必被历史所困，
and we need not be the victims of history. Thank you.
也不必成为历史的牺牲品。谢谢大家。