Jaworsky Bernadette Nadya, Qiaoan Runya
Masaryk University, 601 77 Brno, Czechia.
Department of Asian Studies, Palacky University, Křížkovského, 14 779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
J Chin Polit Sci. 2021;26(2):295-315. doi: 10.1007/s11366-020-09690-8. Epub 2020 Sep 1.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing a surge of nationalism throughout an ostensibly globalized world. In this article, we focus on the "narrative battle" over COVID-19 that has escalated between two competing major powers - China and the US. Guided by a cultural sociological approach, we reveal the meaning-making processes behind the narrative battle through in-depth, hermeneutical reconstruction of the "reactive performance" of each country, as articulated in political speeches and mass media. We point out that, in the Chinese narrative, the country emerges from a "century of humiliation," becoming a major world power that will no longer be subject to the "bullying" of the West. In the US narrative, even though Trump initially highlights the country's "very good" relationship with China, as the storyline unfolds, China is blamed for the global pandemic, assuming again the role of a dangerous actor on the world stage. Our research shows that the current reactive communicative mechanism is not only unsustainable, but also dangerous in times of crisis. We suggest that recognition of the narrative battle and acknowledgement of its performative function in the public sphere is the first step toward mutual understanding and meaningful dialogue between these two world powers.
在新冠疫情大流行期间，我们目睹了在一个表面上全球化的世界里民族主义情绪的激增。在本文中，我们聚焦于中美两个主要大国之间就新冠疫情展开的愈演愈烈的“叙事战”。以文化社会学方法为指导，我们通过对各国在政治演讲和大众媒体中所阐述的“反应性表现”进行深入的诠释性重构，揭示了这场叙事战背后的意义构建过程。我们指出，在中国的叙事中，国家从“百年屈辱”中崛起，成为不再受西方“霸凌”的世界大国。在美国的叙事中，尽管特朗普最初强调美中“非常良好”的关系，但随着故事情节的展开，中国被指责应对全球疫情负责，再次在世界舞台上扮演危险角色。我们的研究表明，当前的反应性传播机制不仅不可持续，而且在危机时刻是危险的。我们建议，认识到这场叙事战并承认其在公共领域的表现功能，是这两个世界大国走向相互理解和有意义对话的第一步。
