Indigenous Reconciliation in Contemporary Taiwan: From Stigma to Hope

283 Pages·2022·8.735 MB·English

by  Scott E. Simon, Jolan Hsieh, Peter Kang

Indigenous Reconciliation in
Contemporary Taiwan
This inspiring book by Simon, Hsieh, and Kang on Taiwan’s Indigenous
peoples marks a breakthrough both in Taiwan’s Indigenous studies and
for the Indigenous policy in Taiwan. Various chapters have expanded the
spectrum of Taiwan’s traditional indigenous studies to open up the fron-
tier of proactive policy-relevant topics on much-needed reconciliation
between the current government and the Indigenous peoples, including
traditional territory, toponyms, and hunting rights. Other chapters also
tackle historical trauma, demand for transitional justice, and call for
decolonization in filmmaking, linguistics teaching, and museum exhibi-
tion. The title of the book, From Stigma to Hope, certainly adds the
positive posture in envisioning the future of Indigenous peoples in
Taiwan. I sincerely congratulate the editors and chapter authors for
making such a great and timely contribution to the making of the inno-
vative Indigenous Studies in Taiwan.
Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Chairman, Taiwan-Asia
Exchange Foundation and Senior Advisor to the President of Taiwan
This book draws attention to the issues of Indigenous justice and reconcilia-
tion in Taiwan, exploring how Indigenous actors affirm their rights through
explicitly political and legal strategies, but also through subtle forms of justice
work in films, language instruction, museums, and handicraft production.
Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples have been colonized by successive external
regimes, mobilized into war for Imperial Japan, stigmatized as primitive
“mountain compatriots” in need of modernization, and instrumentalized as
proof of Taiwan’s unique identity vis-à-vis China. Taiwan’s government now
encapsulates them in democratic institutions of indigeneity. This volume
emphasizes that there is new hope for real justice in an era in which states and
Indigenous peoples seek meaningful forms of reconciliation at all levels and
arenas of social life. The chapters, written by leading Indigenous, Taiwanese,
and international scholars in their respective fields, examine concrete situa-
tions in which Indigenous peoples seek justice and decolonization from the
perspectives of territory and sovereignty, social work and justice.
Illustrating that there is new hope for real justice in an era in which states
and Indigenous peoples seek meaningful forms of reconciliation, this book is
an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Taiwan Studies,
Indigenous Studies, and Social Justice Studies.
Scott E. Simon (Ph.D., Anthropology, McGill University) is Professor in the
School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, University of Ottawa,
Canada. He is co-chair of the uOttawa Research Chair in Taiwan Studies, as
well as a researcher at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre
and the Centre for International Policy Studies. Simon is author of three
books, and numerous journal articles and book chapters, about Taiwan.
Since 2004, he has specialized in the study of indigeneity, based on years of
field research in Truku and Seediq villages. He wrote Sadyaq Balae:
L’autochtone formosane dans tous ses états (Québec: 2012) and Truly Human:
Indigeneity and Indigenous Resurgence on Formosa (Toronto: 2023).
Jolan Hsieh/Bavaragh Dagalomai (Ph.D., Justice Studies, Arizona State
University, Tempe) is a Taiwanese Indigenous scholar of the Siraya Nation.
Jolan is a professor of Ethnic Relations and Cultures at the College of
Indigenous Studies, and since 2014 has been the Director of the Center for
International Indigenous Affairs at National Dong Hwa University (Taiwan).
Her research areas are Law and Society, Human Rights, Identity Politics,
Global Indigenous Studies, Gender/Ethnicity/Class, Environmental Justice,
Indigenous Research and Ethics. Jolan’s book publications include Collective
Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Identity-Based Movement of Plains Indigenous in
Taiwan (Routledge, 2006/2010) and In-between: Indigenous Research and
Activism as Ceremonial Journey (in Chinese, 2017). As a devoted Indigenous
activist and scholar, Jolan has produced a large body of knowledge in the areas
of Indigenous rights and legal activism, identity politics, Indigenous educa-
tion, and gender and culture. Jolan’s professional services include advisor to
the Presidential Office Indigenous Historical Justice and Transnational Justice
Committee/convener of the Reconciliation Subcommittee, the Executive Yuan
Indigenous Peoples Basic Law Working Committee, and the Council for
Indigenous Peoples Affairs PingPu Peoples Affairs Working Committee. Jolan
has served as co-Chair for the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education
Consortium since 2019.
Peter Kang (Ph.D., Geography, University of Minnesota) is Professor at the
Graduate Institute of Taiwan History, National Taiwan Normal University,
Taiwan. Kang specializes in the studies of toponymy of Taiwan, and historical
geography of Formosan Austronesians in the early modern period. His recent
articles include “The VOC and the Geopolitics of Southern Formosa: The case
of Lonckjouw” (2018), “Seeking ‘Roots’ in Taiwan: ‘Red Hair’ and the Dutch
Princess of Eight Treasures” (2018, Routledge), and “Naming and Re-naming
on Formosa: The Toponymic Legacies of the VOC Cartographies on the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Western Maps” (2019).

Routledge Contemporary Asia Series
74. Historical Narratives in East Asia of the 21st Century
Overcoming the Politics of National Identity
Edited by Hitoshi Tanaka
75. Memory, Trauma, Asia
Recall, Affect, and Orientalism in Contemporary Narratives
Edited by Rahul K. Gairola and Sharanya Jayawickrama
76. Transnational Civil Society in Asia
The Potential of Grassroots Regionalization
Edited by Simon Avenell and Akihiro Ogawa
77. Whole Person Education in East Asian Universities
Perspectives from Philosophy and Beyond
Edited by Benedict S. B. Chan and Victor C. M. Chan
78. Air Pollution Governance in East Asia
Edited by Kuei-tien Chou, Koichi Hasegawa, Dowan Ku and Shu-Fen Kao
79. Authoritarianism and Civil Society in Asia
Edited by Akihiro Ogawa and Anthony J. Spires
80. Asian Sound Cultures
Voice, Noise, Sound, Technology
Edited by Iris Haukamp, Christin Hoene and Martyn David Smith
81. Indigenous Reconciliation in Contemporary Taiwan
From Stigma to Hope
Edited by Scott E. Simon, Peter Kang and Jolan Hsieh
82. Memory and Fabrication in East Asian Visual Culture
Ruinous Garden
Dennitza Gabrakova
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Contemporary-Asia-Series/book-series/SE0794
Indigenous Reconciliation in
Contemporary Taiwan
From Stigma to Hope
Edited by Scott E. Simon, Jolan Hsieh and
Peter Kang
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Scott E. Simon, Peter Kang and Jolan Hsieh;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Scott E. Simon, Peter Kang and Jolan Hsieh to be identified as the authors
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Simon, Scott, 1965- editor. | Hsieh, Jolan, editor. | Kang, Peide,
editor.
Title: Indigenous reconciliation in contemporary Taiwan : from stigma to
hope / edited by Scott E. Simon, Jolan Hsieh and Peter Kang.
Other titles: From stigma to hope
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series:
Routledge contemporary Asia series | Includes bibliographical references
and index. | Summary: “This book draws attention to the issues of
Indigenous justice and reconciliation in Taiwan, exploring how
Indigenous actors affirm their rights through explicitly political and
legal strategies, but also through subtle forms of justice work in
films, language instruction, museums, and handicraft production.
Illustrating that there is new hope for real justice in an era in which
states and Indigenous peoples seek meaningful forms of reconciliation,
this book is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Taiwan
Studies, Indigenous Studies and Social Justice Studies”-- Provided by
publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022022921 (print) | LCCN 2022022922 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032023762 (hbk) | ISBN 9781032023793 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003183136
(ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Taiwan aborigines--Politics and government. | Taiwan
aborigines--Legal status, laws, etc. | Taiwan aborigines--Ethnic
identity. | Transitional justice--Taiwan. | Human rights--Taiwan. |
Self-determination, National--Taiwan. | Taiwan--Social conditions.
Classification: LCC DS799.42 .I549 2023 (print) | LCC DS799.42 (ebook) |
DDC 305.899/25051249--dc23/eng/20220628
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022921
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022922
ISBN: 978-1-032-02376-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-02379-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18313-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003183136
Typeset in Times New Roman
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
In memory of Taiwan Studies pioneer J. Bruce Jacobs
(19 September 1943 – 24 November 2019)

Contents
List of illustrations xi
List of contributors xiii
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xix
1 Introduction: Understanding historical (in)justice, while moving
toward Indigenous justice and reconciliation 1
JOLAN HSIEH AND SCOTT E. SIMON
PART 1
Territory and sovereignty 21
2 Demarcation of Indigenous traditional territories: A wrong turn
toward reconciliation 23
LIN SHU-YA
3 Extractive industry, traditional territory, and the politics of
natural resources in Taiwan: The history and political economy
of Indigenous land struggles in the Taroko area 42
CHEN YI-FONG
4 Indigenous toponyms under the state policy of the
standardization of geographical names 62
PETER KANG
5 Hunting rights, justice, and reconciliation: Indigenous experiences
in Taiwan and Canada 77
SCOTT E. SIMON
6 Courts and Indigenous reconciliation: Positivism, the a priori,
and justice in Taiwan 96
J. CHRISTOPHER UPTON