“Small Peoples”: The Existential Uncertainty of Ethnonational Communities

This exploratory paper attempts to extend the boundaries of research on the “smallness” of polities. It introduces the concept of “small peoples,” a term coined by Czech author Milan Kundera to denote communities that lack a “sense of an eternal past and future.” The paper posits “small peoples” as ethnic communities characterized by prolonged and deep-rooted uncertainty regarding their own existence. I argue that in modern times, “small peoples” doubt the validity of their past-based ethnic identity and the viability of their future-driven national polity. Empirically, I analyze two distinct “small peoples”—Israeli Jews and French Canadians (Québécois)—and argue that while the former have been more concerned with the future survival of their polity, the latter have been more concerned with insecurity about their identity. The paper suggests that a focus on communities and their intersubjective processes can enrich the study of states and their objective state.

本探索性学术论文旨在拓展政治实体“小型性”的研究边界。本文引入“小型族群（small peoples）”这一概念，该术语由捷克作家米兰·昆德拉（Milan Kundera）提出，用以指代那些缺乏“永恒的过去与未来之感知”的共同体。本文将“小型族群”界定为一类以对自身存续状态存在长期且根深蒂固的不确定性为核心特征的族群共同体。笔者认为，在现代语境中，“小型族群”会质疑其基于历史传承的族群身份认同的合理性，以及以未来为依托的民族政体的存续可行性。在实证研究层面，本文选取两个极具代表性的“小型族群”——以色列犹太人与法裔加拿大人（魁北克人）展开分析，并指出：前者更关注自身政体的未来存续问题，后者则更多深陷于身份认同层面的不安全感之中。本文还提出，聚焦于共同体及其主体间互动进程，能够丰富关于民族国家及其客观运行状态的研究。