The Making of Falangaw Amis Community in Taiwan by Chien-chang Feng

394 Pages·2015·4.98 MB·English

Experiencing the State:
The Making of Falangaw Amis
Community in Taiwan

by

Chien-chang Feng

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of Anthropology
University of Toronto

© Copyright by Chien-chang Feng 2015
Experiencing the State: The Making of Falangaw Amis Community in Taiwan
Year of Convocation: 2015
By Chien-chang Feng
Department of Anthropology
University of Toronto

Abstract

Seeing the state as an idea and as apparatus which intervenes in people’s lives,
this thesis addresses how the Falangaw Amis people of Taiwan have experienced
these two dimensions of the state since 1896. This thesis presents how the Amis
reflexively use these experiences to fulfill their project of community construction
when being in a situation of fragmentation and marginality.
After introducing Falangaw Amis people’s original and transformed concepts
regarding historicity, the body/person/self, and different sorts of social relatedness,
this thesis demonstrates how they have experienced the state in their ordinary daily
life and on some extraordinary occasions such as stage performances, baseball games,
and political festivals. Specifically, in response to the state idea and apparatus,
Falangaw Amis people present a modern version of genesis that contains symbols of
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the state; a new concept of the body that relates to the statist hierarical value system;
and use faki (MB) to connect and maintain different sorts of social relatedness when
facing state regulations.
This thesis emphasizes that to understand the interaction between the margin and
the center from a bottom-up perspective, we need to examine Taiwan’s peculiar
statehood and Falangaw Amis people’s being conditioned by it. However, even in
such a disadvantaged situation, Falangaw Amis people still gain some knowledge of
the state in their practices and experiences, and materialize the knowledge to fulfill
the task of community construction.
Moreover, not only does the result of their community construction illustrate how
the Falangaw Amis claim the indigenous citizenship after negotiating with the power
of state idea and apparatus, it also reveals how they give positive feedback to the
schismatic colonial state system and the country’s hardship in order to survive in
global politics. In a word, when it comes to indigenous-state relation, the researcher
should go beyond the rigid model of regulation from above and resistance from below.
Instead, by taking the Falangaw Amis as an example, this thesis shows how
complicated power relations sometimes counteract each other and sometimes connects
things together in multi-dimensional ways and the surprising results of the
connections and counteractions.
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Acknowledgements

During the time of writing this dissertation thesis, I lost my mother and my first
and best informant Palac, the two most important persons in my family and in the
field. I still cannot figure out how it could be possible to complete this work without
them. To this question, the only answer I have in mind is that benevolent and generous
people have supported me and cheered me up. To whom I want to acknowlege and
express my gratitude.
Professor Hy van Luong, my co-supervisor, has offered his time and knowledge to
help solve all my problems about living, studying, and writing over these years. His
suggestions are wise and practical, and I always feel calm and confident when
working with him. Professor Tania Li, another co-supervisor, has urged me to do my
work better. She has asked difficult questions and challenged my viewpoints, and the
results of my replies to her questions and challenges are significant progress and
improvements in my writing. Both of my supervisors have taught me how to think
properly, which will be a lifelong benefit for my future learning.
Joshua Barker and Ricahrd Lee, members of my dissertation thesis committee, have
given helpful comments and asked questions that inspire my future research. Bonnie
McElhinny and the late Krystyna Sieciechowicz were members of my dissertation
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proposal committee. I took courses and learned useful research methods and theories
of colonialism from them, which helped me a lot when I conducted my research and
wrote my thesis. I also have benefited greatly from Professor Shuichi Nagata’s
valuable suggestions and comments. He kindly took me to restaurants because he
knew that I was a hungry international student living alone in Toronto. We always had
good times and nice talks when we got together. Professor Scott Simon, my external
examiner and a Taiwan expert, kindly gave me a detailed appraisal and offered
appropriate comments at my dissertation defense. From his suggestions and critique, I
see a clear path of improvement.
I want to thank my classmates and friends in Toronto. Many thanks to Columba
Gonzalez, Salvador Altamirano, Jelena Damjanovic, Chyleen Shih, and my landloard
Antony Chen for their friendship. Especially I would like to express my gratitude to
Michael Stainton. He has treated me like a family member. Toronto is dear to me
partially because of him. Besides, Natalia Krencil is always kind to offer her help,
even when she is busy.
I was well trained by my MA thesis supervisor Professor Chiang Bien. If my
research can make a contribution, half of the credit should go to him. Professor
Kuei-hsien Chen, a research fellow at the Intstitue of Atomic and Molecular Sciences,
Academia Sinica, helped me a lot when I was in Taiwan applying to a Ph.D. program.
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Dr. Shu-chung Lii and Dr. Tzung-de Lin are good friends who have generously
offered their help and care in many aspects. I cherish their genuine friendship.
Jia-hong Wu, a best friend whom I can rely on, always gives superb suggestions.
Encouragements from Shen-yong Liu, Ming-ting Tsay, and Shih-fang Yang are also
precious. And I am indebted to Wen-te Chen and Shu-yuang Yang for their helpful
comments on my draft chapters.
All my informants in Falangaw should be mentioned, but here I know that it is not
realistic to list them all. I thank all the la Congtong people for looking after me like
their son when I was in Falangaw. I thank and admire Hoki who showed me the right
ways and attitudes to approach Amis culture. Wang Tong-ciang, my landlord and also
my informant, shared his house and his life stories with me. Guo Long-cao adopted
me as his son, fed me whenever my stomach was empty when I did research in
Taitung. Chun-yen Sun, a friend and an ethnomusicologist who also conducted
fieldwork in Falangaw generously shared his research results with me. I have learned
from him something I did not know about Amis culture.
I also thank my family. My father and my sister Chiung-yu have done everything
they could to support my work. My son Ted and my daughter Lucy, although still too
young to know how the world worked, showed me their smiles which relieved me of
all the fatigue and strains I had suffered.
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I was granted a three-year scholarship from the Ministry of Education of the
Government of Taiwan for my Ph.D. program. During my fieldwork, I was fully
funded by the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto. Without these
sources of financial aid, this research would have been much more difficult to
complete.
Many thanks to all the aforementioned people for their invaluable friendship and to
institutions listed above for their generous support.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ii

Acknowledgements iv

List of Illustrations xii

Glossary xv

Pronunciation Guide xviii
Chapter One Introduction 1
“Our Bodies Are the Wall the Country” 1
Taiwan: A Brief Political History 3

Indigenous People and the State in Taiwan 14
The Falangaw Amis 16
Amis Studies in Taiwan 33
Fieldwork Process, Strategies, and Content 39
The State and its Work 42
Experiencing the State 45
Thesis Outline 48
Part I Anchoring the Amis
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Chapter Two Genesis and Baseball:
the Making of New Historicity 52

The Question of the Arapanay Genesis 53
The Palidaw Genesis 57
Discussion 62

The Background of the Emergence of the Palidaw Genesis 69
Rethinking Indigenous Modernity 80

Concluding Remarks 82

Chapter Three Body, Person, Self: the Construction
and Transformation of the Relation of
Power 85

Some Theoretical Considerations about Body, Person, Self and
Power 86

The Amis Body/Person/Self 88

The Practice of the Body/Person/Self 96

Concluding Remarks 115

Chapter Four Loma’, Masakaputay, and Niyaro’:
Some Forms of Social Relatedness
and their Transformation 118

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Loma’ 119
Masakaputay and Niyaro’ 139

Conclusion 160
Part II Diffusing the State

Chapter Five State of Regulation: Ordinary
Everyday-life Experiences 163

Na Fasaw 164
Na Dihal 181

Na Kakita’an 192

Discussion: Everyday Life in Context 199
Conclusion: State of Regulation and Beyond 236

Chapter Six State of Performance, State of Exodus:
Extraordinary Experiences and Political
Festivals 240

Stage Performance 242
Baseball 270
Political Festivals: Kiloma’an and Election 277

Kiloma’an 278

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