自唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)在本月的大选中获胜以来，在美国不少家庭和编辑部里都有人困惑地低声念叨一个问题：白人民族主义到底是什么？

　　Self-proclaimed white nationalists have happily embraced Trump’s victory and, particularly, his choice of Stephen K.

　　自称白人民族主义者的人开心地把特朗普的胜利，尤其是他选择史蒂芬?K?班农(Stephen K.

　　Bannon as chief strategist, as a win for their agenda.

　　Bannon)担任首席策略师的做法当成是他们议程的胜利。

　　A barrage of groups that fight discrimination and hate speech have, in turn, criticized Bannon’s appointment, warning that his embrace of the alt-right movement was little more than an attempt to rebrand racism and white nationalism into something palatable enough for mass consumption.

　　反过来，大量反对歧视和仇恨言论的团体指责任命班农的决定，警告称他对另类右翼(alt-right)运动的大力支持无异于试图把种族主义和白人民族主义重新塑造成能够让人接受，可供大众消费的概念。

　　And much of the rest of the country has been left to wonder what this unfamiliar term actually means.

　　这些人以外的美国民众则感到莫名其妙，不知道这个少见的说法到底是什么意思。

　　While white nationalism certainly overlaps with white supremacy and racism, many political scientists say it is a distinct phenomenon — one that was a powerful but often-unseen force during the presidential election and will most likely remain a potent factor in US and European politics in coming years.

　　白人民族主义当然与白人至上和种族主义存在共同之处，尽管如此，很多政治学家称它是一种不同的现象——在大选期间是一股强大但常常无形的力量，未来很多年里极有可能仍是美国和欧洲政治中的一个强效因素。

　　Eric Kaufmann, a professor of politics at Birkbeck University in London, has spent years studying the ways that ethnicity intersects with politics.

　　伦敦大学伯克贝克学院的政治学教授埃里克?考夫曼(Eric Kaufmann)潜心数年，研究族群渊源与政治的相互影响。

　　While most researchers in that field focus on ethnic minorities, Kaufmann does the opposite: He studies the behavior of ethnic majorities, particularly whites in the United States and Britain.

　　尽管这一领域的大部分研究者都把重点放在了少数族群上，但考夫曼却反其道而行之：他研究的是多数族群的行为，特别是美国和英国的白人。

　　White nationalism, he said, is the belief that national identity should be built around white ethnicity, and that white people should therefore maintain both a demographic majority and dominance of the nation’s culture and public life.

　　他说，白人民族主义是一种信念，认为应该围绕白色人种建立国民身份，因而白人应该保持在人口中的多数地位，以及在国家文化和公共生活中的主导地位。

　　So, like white supremacy, white nationalism places the interests of white people over those of other racial groups.

　　因此，和白人至上一样，白人民族主义把白人的利益放在了其他种族的利益前面。

　　White supremacists and white nationalists both believe that racial discrimination should be incorporated into law and policy.

　　白人至上主义者和白人民族主义者都认为，种族歧视应该被纳入法律和政策中。

　　Some will see the distinction between white nationalism and white supremacy as a semantic sleight of hand.

　　一些人会认为白人民族主义和白人至上之间的差别只是词语上的障眼法。很多白人至上主义者也是白人民族主义者，反之亦然。

　　But although many white supremacists are also white nationalists, and vice versa, Kaufmann says the terms are not synonyms: White supremacy is based on a racist belief that white people are innately superior to people of other races; white nationalism is about maintaining political and economic dominance, not just a numerical majority or cultural hegemony.

　　尽管如此，考夫曼说这两个词并非同义词：白人至上是建立在白人天生比其他种族优秀的种族主义信念上；白人民族主义说的是保持在政治和经济领域的主导地位，不仅仅是人数上的优势或文化霸权。

　　For a long time, he said, white nationalism was less an ideology than the default presumption of American life.

　　他说，在很长一段时间里，白人民族主义与其说是一种思想，不如说是对美国生活的默认设想。

　　Until quite recently, white Americans could easily see the nation as essentially an extension of their own ethnic group.

　　直到最近，美国的白人还很容易认为这个国家本质上是他们的族群的延伸。

　　But the country’s changing demographics, the civil rights movement and a push for multiculturalism in many quarters mean that white Americans are now confronting the prospect of a nation that is no longer built solely around their own identity.

　　但美国不断变化的人口组成、民权运动以及很多方面对多元文化主义的推动，意味着美国的白人现在面临的情况是美国不再是一个完全只围绕他们自己的身份认同构建的国家。

　　For many white people, of course, the growing diversity is something to celebrate.

　　当然，对很多白人来说，日渐丰富的多样性值得庆祝。

　　But for others it is a source of stress.

　　但对其他人来说，这是压力的源头。

　　The white nationalist movement has drawn support from that latter group.

　　白人民族主义运动得到了后者的支持。

　　Its supporters argue that the United States should protect its white majority by sharply limiting immigration and perhaps even by compelling nonwhite citizens to leave.

　　该运动的支持者辩称，美国应该通过严格限制移民，甚或通过强迫非白人公民离开美国来保护占人口多数的白人。

　　Trump’s appointment of Bannon as his senior counselor and chief West Wing strategist has, more than anything, brought white nationalism to the forefront of conversation.

　　特朗普任命班农担任自己的高级顾问和西配楼首席策略师的做法尤其把白人民族主义者推上了风口浪尖。

　　He is the former editor of Breitbart News, a site he described in August to Mother Jones as the platform of the alt-right.

　　班农曾是布莱巴特新闻(Breitbart News)的主编，并曾在8月对《琼斯母亲》(Mother Jones)称该网站是‘另类右翼’的平台。

　　Although the alt-right is ideologically broader than white nationalism — it also includes neoreactionaries, monarchists and meme-loving internet trolls — white nationalism makes up a significant part of its appeal.

　　尽管另类右翼在意识形态方面比白人民族主义更广泛——它还包括新反动派、君主主义者和钟爱米姆的网络挑衅者——但白人民族主义构成了其吸引力中重要的组成部分。

　　For instance, Richard Spencer, who runs the website AlternativeRight.com, is also the director of the National Policy Institute, an organization that says it is devoted to protecting the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.

　　比如，理查德?斯潘塞(Richard Spencer)既是网站AlternativeRight.com的负责人，也是全国政策研究所(National Policy Institute)的所长。该机构自称致力于保护美国和全世界有欧洲血统者的文化遗产、身份认同和未来。

　　Spencer argues that immigration and multiculturalism are threats to America’s white population and has said his ideal is a white ethno-state.

　　斯潘塞称移民和多元文化主义是对美国白人的威胁，并表示他的理想是建立一个白人种族国家。

　　He has avoided discussing the details of how this might be achieved, saying it is still just a dream, but has called for peaceful ethnic cleansing to remove nonwhite people from US soil.

　　他避免讨论如何实现这一点的细节，称那仍然只是一个梦想，但他呼吁进行和平的种族清洗，以将非白人赶出美国的领土。

　　Bannon, the Trump adviser, told The Times upon his appointment that he does not share those ethno-nationalist views.

　　身为特朗普的顾问，班农在就自己的任命接受时报采访时表示，他不赞成那些种族民族主义观点。

　　But under his leadership, Breitbart News has gone to considerable lengths to cater to an audience that does.

　　但在他的领导下，布莱巴特新闻不遗余力地迎合认同相关观点的读者。

　　And in a 2015 radio interview that was resurfaced last week by The Washington Post, Bannon opposed even highly skilled immigration, implying he believed it was a threat to American culture.

　　在2015年的一次电台采访中，班农甚至反对技术移民，暗示他们是对美国文化的威胁。上周，《华盛顿邮报》(The Washington Post)让那次采访再次浮出水面。

　　When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think ...

　　当硅谷三分之二或四分之三的首席执行官都来自南亚或亚洲时，我觉得……

　　he said, trailing off midsentence before continuing a moment later, a country is more than an economy.

　　说到一半时他的声音逐渐降低，过了一会儿才接着说，一个国家不只有经济。

　　We’re a civic society.

　　我们是一个公民社会。

　　White nationalists, including Spencer, have rejoiced at Bannon’s appointment to such a senior position in the Trump White House.

　　包括斯潘塞在内的民族主义者，对班农在特朗普领导的白宫被委以如此重任高兴不已。

　　But focusing on high-profile figures like Bannon may obscure the more significant way that white nationalist ideas are affecting politics — and fueling the rise of politicians like Trump in the United States as well as anti-immigrant populist movements in Britain and continental Europe.

　　但把注意力放在像班农这样的重要人物身上，可能会掩盖白人民族主义思想影响政治——并助长像特朗普这样的政治人物在美国的崛起，以及英国和欧洲大陆反移民民粹主义运动的方式，后者更重要。

　　Kaufmann argues that anxiety over white identity and anti-immigrant populist politicians can have a symbiotic relationship, each strengthening the other.

　　考夫曼称，白人身份认同引发的焦虑和反移民民粹主义政治人物之间可能存在一种相互增强的共生关系。

　　When populist politicians gain mainstream success, that can make white nationalist ideas more socially acceptable.

　　当民粹主义政治人物获得主流的成功时，这可能会让白人民族主义思想变得更容易被社会接受。

　　It’s not just a question of ethnic change and people being alarmed over it, he said.

　　不仅仅是一个族群变化和人们对它感到担忧的问题，他说。

　　It’s also a question of what people see as the boundaries of acceptable opposition.

　　也是一个人们认为可接受的反方界限是什么的问题。

　　It’s about what counts as racism, and whether it’s racist to vote for a far-right party.

　　它关乎什么可以被当做种族主义，以及投票支持极右翼政党的行为是不是种族主义。

　　This is all about the anti-racist norm, Kaufmann continued.

　　这一切都和反种族主义准则有关，考夫曼接着说。

　　If it’s weakening or eroding because people think the boundaries have shifted.

　　如果它正在衰退或是减弱，那是因为人们认为界限变了。