作为文化感应变化的间断熵——埃克森·瓦尔迪兹石油泄漏事故研究

间断熵在文化领域被定义为一种永久的衰退,是人类文化系统对环境适应灵活性的永久萎缩,它预测并解释了灾后人类系统不能重建的原因。1989年发生于埃克森·瓦尔迪兹的石油泄漏事故是一次技术性灾难,对威廉王子湾地区的商业性捕鱼和建立在生存资料基础上的社区生活模式造成了严重的影响,并在其随后的灾后重建中表现出明显的间断熵过程。究其原因在于：（1）自然资源基础受到严重损坏,影响了原有的生计方式;（2）外来援助的方向性错误或有所保留,致使当地居民的精神创伤加剧;（3）灾后地区政治生态妨碍人类与环境互动传统模式的恢复。威廉王子湾地区作为自然资源社区,代表了一种文化上适合可持续发展的能力,那么他们应该被竭力保护,而不是被排斥或消除。对此,人类学家应该致力于研究如何对抗间断熵,为预防、应对和缓解灾难创造出文化上适宜的新方法。

Punctuated Entropy as Culture-Induced Change: The Case of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

This article grew out of the observation that as disaster events increase in frequency and severity,recovery from certain kinds,or combinations of,disasters becomes increasingly difficult,if not impossible. This phenomenon is not new. Throughout history,civilizations have faced ecological and cultural collapse resulting from drought,disease,or earthquake. It is made more cogent,however,by the rapidity of modern culture change,and the increased risk associated with human induced catastrophes,also known as technological disasters. In the article,the author defines the non recovery of human systems from disaster events as punctuated entropy,and applies the concept to the case of the Exxon Valdez oil spill that happened on March 24,1989,a spill for which data exist on the long term impacts to culture,community,and economy. It thus provides an invaluable opportunity to examine the ongoing effects of a catastrophe that has laid bare the core human environment relationship that is now so threatened by the contemporary abuses of our global village. Punctuated entropy is defined as a permanent decline in the adaptive flexibility of a human cultural system to the environment brought on by the cumulative impact of periodic disaster events. It predicts and explains the non recovery of human systems after a disaster. Disasters are conceptualized here as either technological or natural. Natural disasters arise from the biophysical environment,and most documented cases of successful adaptation are in response to natural disasters. Technological disastersarise from failures of technology resulting from either human error or system breakdown. Cumulative natural disasters can also induce punctuated entropy,and may include serial earthquakes followed by landslides or tsunamis; extended droughts followed by sandstorms,or repeated severe flooding events （ Piers et al. 1994： 27 ） . Technological disasters can have cumulative effects known as ＂secondary disasters＂ （ Erickson 1976） , which include cultural,social,and economic impacts that persist long after the event and that negatively alter or destroy affected communities （ Freudenberg and Jones 1991; Dyer 1993; Hirsch 1997; Rodin et al. 1997） . Social stratification and the politics of environmental control can also result in punctuated entropy effecting politically and environmentally marginalized populations. In a socially stratified polity,the exploitation of marginal populations following repeated natural disruptions can depress adaptability for those dispossessed of their resource base. Another consequence of punctuated entropy is the acceleration of negative systemic change,thus increasing risk to life,health,and social,cultural,and economic sustainability. Punctuated entropy is most apparent when the natural resource base is compromised, external recovery assistance is misdirected or withheld,and the post disaster political economy of the region hinders restoration of traditional patterns of human environment interaction. In terms of the Exxon Oil Spill,the goal of the author in this article is to assess that disaster as a case of punctuated entropy,compare it with simi-lar disaster events,and place it within a wider context of anthropological discourse on culture change. The author states that the case has been made that the Exxon Valdez oil spill is a technological disaster arising from a process of punctuated entropy for severely impacted commercial fishing and subsistence based communities of Prince William Sound. This has occurred because （ 1 ） the natural resource base has been compromised; （ 2） external assistance has been misdirected or withheld; and （ 3） the post disaster political ecology of the region has hindered restoration of traditional patterns of human environment interaction. There may be no way at this point to record the symbolic ecological relationship that has been so completely altered in the impacted NRCs （ Natural Resource Community） . The end point of this punctuated entropy process can be conceived of as ＂cultural chaos＂,in which neither the rules for normal behavior nor the rules for coping with the unexpected the cultural ＂emergency system ＂ （ Corlin 1975） apply. Successfully mitigating the punctuated entropy process engulfing the victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill may be an exercise in futility. The present worldview on technological disaster,as reflected in the case of the Exxon Valdez oil spill,tends to minimize differences rather than respect them. This allows for expansion of the development process with little regard for cultural or environmental sustainability （ Greider 1997） . In the absence of innovative,culturally sensitive forms of mitigation and validation of the NRC paradigm by the DSP （ Dominant Social Paradigm） cultural brokers,there is cause for pessimism. Innovation,to be successful,must validate the human,cultural,and social capital that gives diversity to the social patchwork of our global village. Such capital includes skills, knowledge, social networks,and means of sustainable utilization of renewable natural resources （ Freudenberg and Gramling 1992 ） . As the natural resource base from which cultures reproduce themselves is destroyed,the loss of adaptive flexibility can result in the emergence of＂corrosive communities＂with little opportunity for recovery.In cases of disaster by forced eviction from technologically intrusive structures （ e. g. ,large dam projects） ,recovery is possible （ Torry 1978） . This requires that opportunities for adaptation of previous cultural systems are present in the new environment. If the NRC model represents a culturally appropriate one for sustainable communities,then we should seek to emulate and conserve such communities rather than marginalize them into nonexistence. It is time for anthropologists to go beyond the study of culture. Punctuated entropy is a warning to humankind to listen carefully to the voices of vulnerability.