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Thesis Topics

All Department of Anthropology Theses can be found online at Airiti Library. (click here).

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2019 Thesis Topics and Abstracts

Keywords:Borneo;un-kindedness cultural identity; marginality; Austronesian; Southeast Asian Chinese

Abstract:The States of Sabah and Sarawak have their own autonomy in native affairs according to “The Malaysia Agreement 1963”. Sino group from Sabah has maintained its cultural duality between the Southeast Asian Chinese and the Borneo Austronesian under the title of “bàn tăng fān” (半唐番, literally means “half-Chinese and half-native”) and is an atypical social category under Malaysian demographic framework. Its special status of duality and indigenous rights has caused various communal reactions under different social contexts. Facing the suppression of government, Sino launched their cultural revitalization movement in 2011, building cross-regional “ethnic group” identity through cultural association, actively seeking for social recognition. The social space, which emancipated by Sino, are closely related to the multiple and fluid cultural identity model of Sabah natives, and to the theory of marginality. As the first master thesis of Sino study, this research aims to investigate the topic of identity from the margin of Chinese-ness and indigenousness. The following aspects are the concerns of the author: emergence of local indigenousness, emergence of Sino as ethnic category and ethnic group, connection between Sino and their residence places, as well as naming system and burial custom of relevant groups.

In examining the zone of ambiguity towards economic development and balance in livelihood, my analysis leads to rethinking the notion of collectivity in Penan community, whereby actors with differential bodily experiences to express their subjectivities towards the statements of development, rather than identified cultural identity as isolated entities. Further, as witnessed the resource contention in daily life, it discerns a linkage to the politics of capital accumulation, where a specific form of domination is created. Therefore, I would explore Penan’s concept of power relations with my focus on local leadership and the negotiation process in the context of customary right.

   Lastly, I will argue that the recognition of landscape is within the context of cognitive and politically imaginative dimensions based on their current way of livelihood under modernization, rather merely a concrete narration and disengaged from the particular sentiments of the local community. Thus, Penan’s responses to river pollution are required to examine the aspect of continuity for the landscape as a source of a hidden transcript. The conceptual aim is to offer a more sensitive perspective of the human cause of river pollution in local, with their past memory of resistance, and social resilience to engage in current living status in the period of post-environmental movement.

Keywords: Sarawak ; Penan ; resistance ; social resilience ; power relations ; heterogeneous community

Abstract: This thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork among the settled Penan community, with whom I am mainly concerned in interior central of tropical forest, which locates in Sarawak, Malaysia. The icons of resistance and spirit of environmental guardianship are claimed to the Penan due to publication at the forefront of the international platform by environmental activists according to the dramatic upsurge in the issue of forest degradation since the 1980s.
Regarding the current phenomena in wage employment and intermarriage relationship with logging developers, I attempt to research on the question that how commonly defined “hunter-gatherer” Penan community presents their affinity towards market opportunities, and the engagement of extractive capitalism in daily life is both a question of social relations and a political issue of subjectivity.
In examining the zone of ambiguity towards economic development and balance in livelihood, my analysis leads to rethinking the notion of collectivity in Penan community, whereby actors with differential bodily experiences to express their subjectivities towards the statements of development, rather than identified cultural identity as isolated entities. Further, as witnessed the resource contention in daily life, it discerns a linkage to the politics of capital accumulation, where a specific form of domination is created. Therefore, I would explore Penan’s concept of power relations with my focus on local leadership and the negotiation process in the context of customary right.
Lastly, I will argue that the recognition of landscape is within the context of cognitive and politically imaginative dimensions based on their current way of livelihood under modernization, rather merely a concrete narration and disengaged from the particular sentiments of the local community. Thus, Penan’s responses to river pollution are required to examine the aspect of continuity for the landscape as a source of a hidden transcript. The conceptual aim is to offer a more sensitive perspective of the human cause of river pollution in local, with their past memory of resistance, and social resilience to engage in current living status in the period of post-environmental movement.

Keywords:Lapita; Santa Cruz; Nendö; SZ8 site; chaîne opératoire (operational sequence); provenience analysis; petroghraphy; chemical analysis; technical choice

English Abstract:Known for its dentate-stamped pottery, the Lapita Culture Complex appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago in northwestern Melanesia around 3500-3200 B.P. After the formation of the culture, the Lapita people began to move outward from their homeland and navigated across almost 400 kilometers of ocean to arrive in the Reef/Santa Cruz islands, becoming the first people to settle in Far Oceania. This research studies the SZ8 site on the main Santa Cruz island (Nendö) and explores the provenience and manufacturing technologies of its Lapita pottery.

The analytical framework of the research is based on the concept of chaîne opératoire (operational sequence) and covers pottery manufacturing processes such as the acquisition and preparation of raw materials, primary formation, secondary formation, decoration, drying and firing, and post-treatment. While the discussion of the decoration and drying and firing techniques relies heavily on previous research, special focus is given to the provenance of pottery raw materials through petrographic and chemical analysis.

It is found that the forming, decorating, and firing techniques of Lapita pottery in SZ8 conform to those in other Lapita sites as discussed in the literature. Clay slabs, coils, and even chunks were used in the primary forming process. Plain sherds were the majority while decoration was often applied using the stamping/impressing method. With preliminary observations and a reference to previous studies, it appears that the pottery was fired in a low-temperature oxidation environment.

The provenience is demonstrated by the tempers in the thin section samples, which match the characteristics of the basaltic volcanic bedrock of Santa Cruz. Therefore, it is likely that the Lapita pottery in SZ8 was locally made rather than imported, and that the Lapita people arrived in SZ8 with pottery manufacturing technology, not finished products. Interestingly, while coral beach sand was present in the Lapita layer, calcareous or shell tempers were almost entirely missing in the samples observed. This indicates that the SZ8 potters intentionally avoided this type of temper and chose to source materials from outside of SZ8. Areas along the rivers north and northeast to SZ8 are potential raw material collecting points but more data is required to support this speculation. Finally, the sample thin sections in this research are classified into six groups based on dominant temper types. Examination of the actual sherds of these thin section samples shows no differences in forming technologies or decoration. It is therefore hypothesized that the grouping of these samples more likely reflects different locations for sourcing raw materials rather than different groups of potters.

Keywords:South Asian Studies; Governmentality; Citizenship; Woman worker

English Abstract:My thesis mainly focuses on following questions: In the social-cultural context of Bangladesh, what changes might happen to the state of right of a woman, when she became a garment worker? What kinds of governmentality have been operating considering these changes? What might the convergence of different identities or subjectivities, such as woman, worker or citizen, might shape the contents of right?

I respond to the above questions from three aspects. First, when looking at Dhaka Export Processing Zone constructed by the state with special legislation from the local society, it can be tell that a temporal, particular gender order has emerged in the area. However, local patron-client politics is still penetrating. Outside the zone, in the urban space, the issue of the residence of woman workers also highlighted nowadays the wrestling of patron-client relationships, the national development plan and the sustained gender orders. I will explain how woman workers respond to this governmentality in choice of residence.

I examine worker’s organizations and assemblies as my second aspect. With the expansion of garment industry, various non-governmental organizations, trade unions, and multinational organizations have emerged. They are both actors and knowledge-mediators, propagating civic awareness and civil rights related to woman workers. According to the organization I visited, a notable tendency is the increasing status of female leader in decision-making process, comparing to traditional mode of operation in most trade unions. This helps establishing a public female-friendly space, responding to woman workers’ daily needs, illness, mental pressure as well as their responsibility to family, therefor effectively improving the relationship between workers and organizations. It is worth noting that when female workers empower themselves through organizational activities, the organizations continue to extend its influence to their daily lives, forming a new distinction between workers.

I put my last focus on one of the ‘long-lived’ ‘illegal’ slums in Dhaka city. Slums continually blur the categories of established governmentality and civil society. In the slum I visited, I find that activities according to different states of citizenship among slum residents are on the one hand subject to the patron-client politics, that is, those who master the external resources can form a dominance mechanism internally, being closer to the state of right as legitimate citizens than other residents in the slum. On the other hand, the slum serves as a political sphere, which is fiercely competitive, but with more opportunities for women to participate in.

I conclude the thesis by pointing out that, under the dominance of gender order, factory management and urban governmentality, the states of right of woman workers in Bangladesh are vulnerable, irregular and easy to be deprived comparing to ordinary citizens. However, by building new social relations, participating in organizational activities, absorbing knowledge and accumulating experiences of negotiation, woman workers keep enriching the visions of right, and restoring their relations with the state by forming a more empirical and relational concept of right. They are carrying out a multifaceted and devious practice of ‘grabbing’ citizenship.

Keywords:sexuality; documentary; urban space; ordinary ethic; care and survival

Abstract:With the success of the Teddy Award-winning documentary SMALL TALK(2016), the self-identification of the 63 years old main character A-Nju(阿女), has become a public topic. Being recognized as a lesbian mother, A-Nju herself, though, doesn’t really agree with that. This paper starts from the distance between public dissertations and her self-location, then swift to her gambling for survival, which is emerging from urbanization and dynamic transformation of home/house/family in Taiwan. Focus on her daily life in old age in the urban shrine, I paint a picture of how people in similar situation gathering here, and how they make affiliations by gambling with each other. Through the everyday-life practices of monetary and medication exchanges, they form flexible sustaining systems different form kinship. By these descriptions, I present another possibility of seeing her, not just about identity, but alternative ethical practices of caring and living.

Keywords: Pearl; embeddedness; re-embeded; local industry; material culture; economic anthropology

Abstract:This essay started with the concept of “embeddedness” rise by Polanyi, in order to discuss the economic model of Village S, of Lombok Indonesia. In the past , their economic practice was tightly embedded with their belief and politics. By the effect of Islamization and market economy, their mode of economy became “dis-embedded”. Then, when pearl and the pearl industry got into Lombok, Orang Sasak’s kinship connection and religion became the force to “re-embedded” the economy and the local context, to form the unique feature of Village S.

Keywords:Christianity; Culture revitalization movement; Symbolic/Interpretive Anthropology; Urban indigenous peoples; Providence churches

English Abstract:Christianity in modern Taiwan began in the nineteenth century. In the whole Taiwan Christian population, the indigenous peoples occupied a fairly high proportion. For example, the indigenous churches account for nearly half of the total churches of the Presbyterian Church. The flourishing development of the Christian gospel missionary in Taiwan indigenous peoples after World War II is compared to “the miracle of the twentieth century.”

Since the 1960s, due to the push-pull effect caused byindustrialization, a large number of rural populations have migrated to the cities. The push-pull effect also led the youth generation of indigenous peoples leaving the tribes and went to the cities to seek for jobs. This external migration of the tribes has formed a new group called “urban indigenous peoples.”

The emergence of “urban indigenous peoples” not only extended the living space of the indigenous from the original hometown to all corners of the city but also enhanced the mobility of the indigenous between cities and countryside. Thus,it also increased and diversified the interactions between the indigenous and the mainstream members of the Han Chinese. In the end, it began to create a new pattern of ethnic interaction in the history of the indigenous and the Han Chinese relations in Taiwan.

In the 1970s─when the first “Takasago” believer converted to Christianity in the Japanese occupation period for nearly half a century─the doctrines, cultures, and worldviews of Christianity have been integrated into the majority of Taiwanese indigenous tribes and became one of the fundamental tribal cultures, and this tribal culture was brought into the cities by the urban indigenous peoples as well.

In the survey report written by the provincial government in 1991 in order to understand the economy and quality of life of the indigenous peoples demonstrates: in 1985, there are 85.83% population of the urban indigenous who believed in Christianity, as for “the mountain indigenous” and “the lowland indigenous” the Christians accounted for 85.13% and 70.70% of the total population respectively. However, by 1991, the proportions of Christians in the total population of “the mountain indigenous”, “the lowland indigenous” and “the urban indigenous” were 83.94%, 61.43% and 64.50% respectively. In sum, the number of indigenous Christian believers declined gradually, and the numbers of atheists or Taoism and Buddhism believers were relatively increasing.

This study focuses on one of the urban indigenous churches in New Taipei City. The urban independent church which this study focuses experienced a holistic transformation and restructuring in the early 1990s under the trend of Christians proportion of indigenous peoples decline. The reason for its transformation and the process of the transformation did not appear to be related to the Pentecostal movement but related to a new series of theological discussions about the Bible.

During the transition period, most of the believers who did not accept the transformation left the church, and the minority who accept the transformation reorganized the church. After the transformation, the members of the church slowly increased to the scale before, and the phenomena of modernization, globalization and the indigenous traditional culture resonating appeared. Furthermore, the event that a terminally ill patient recovered after healing prayed happened.

The goal this research tried to attempt is: presenting the transformation process and its dynamic factors of an urban indigenous independent church with the symbolic/interpretive anthropological viewpoint and ethnographic methods, in order to make some contributions to understand the significance of the time behind this social change.This study claims that the “revitalization” nature within Christianity made a crucial impact on the transformation of this urban independent church.

During the revitalization movement, due to the resistance (or pressure) caused by “anti-syncretism” and the environmental conditions of “universal prejudice against new religious movements”, many church members could not accept the changes: the new concept of theology, the reappear of the traditional indigenous costumes, and so on. Thus, the scale of the church once fell to about 15%.However, the minority who initially opened the “revitalization movement” within the church by learning the new theology extended it to the whole church. Despiteunder the internal and external resistance, the newly entered theology has been retained until now, and the scale of the converted church has grown to exceed the pre-transition scale.Besides, after the transformation of the church, it has cultivated indigenous youth talent in various fields. Therefore, this research advocates the transformation of this urban indigenous church as a successful Christian revitalization movement event.

Keywords:Spatial analysis; K-means Clusters; Shandong; China; Late Shang period

Abstract:During the Late Shang period (ca. 1300-1046 BC) in the Shandong region of China, many differences appear amongst various Shang Dynasty polities. The timing of when Shandong was incorporated into the territory controlled by the Shang Dynasty was relatively late compared to the Central Plains region, but in contrast to what the true sense of what a “frontier” is taken to be, there was a strong capability to control the region, which is particularly manifested in the coexistence of agglomeration and dispersion in the distribution of sites. Furthermore, the assemblages of artifacts unearthed from a few important Shang Culture sites in the Shandong region are not completely the same as those from the core region of the Shang Dynasty near Anyang in the Central Plains. This circumstance gives rise to many questions, among which the most important is,  in the end, how greatly did the situation of the distribution of Shang Culture sites in this region, after having gone through a certain historical process and then formed during the Late Shang period, impact the upper strata of the Central Plains Shang Dynasty’s governance on the Shandong region? What is the relationship and distribution patterns between these sites? This is the core issue on which this thesis focuses. Previous generations of scholars, who studied the rich data from the unearthed oracle bone records and the received historical texts, had their own understanding of the vast region in the east during the Late Shang Dynasty, looking at the interaction between Shang and Yi and the patterns of the boundaries between ethnic groups, as well as the routes of military campaigns by the Shang kings against other tribes—these are too numberous to enumerate. Archaeologists, as well, have indeed been able to discover some differences in the Shandong region in the distribition of Central Plains Shang Culture sites and indigenous Yueshi Culture sites. These past studies undoubtedly offer us important material to advance our investigations of the Shang Dynasty’s control of the Shandong region during the Late Shang period and of organization.

K-means Clusters analysis is a statistical method broadly applied across many fields. It can be used to divide irregularly distributed data points into a predetermined number of Clusters based upon their distances between each other. By viewing the changing distributions of the sites under the different number of Clusters, we can see the distribution and organization of sites under different regional scales. After calculating K-means Clusters and doing GIS map visualization, we can see many characteristics and the organization of the distribution of Shang Culture sites in the Late Shang period in the Shandong region. First, there are a large number of sites related to salt production in the Bohai Bay are of northern Shandong, highlighting the needs of the Shang Dynasty kings during the Late Shang period for salt from the Shandong region. At the same time, a large number of sites in the eastern part of northern Shandong are densely distributed, including the large-scale Subutun site in Qingzhou, which seems to be in control of salt production and trans-shipment, as well as it must having been related to military matters in the watch over the “non-Shang” groups of the Zhenzhumen Culture in the eastern Shandong Peninsula region. The group of sites along the east-west riverways in the western and central parts of northern Shandong had a certain degree of responsibility for protecting the waterways used for transporting salt toward the west. The Subutun site has been considered to belong to the noble Zi lineage of the Shang Dynasty kings, a view which also coincides with the literary record and what earlier research has called “lineage politics”. In less important areas such as the region south of the Taiyi Mountains, as well as in the areas occupied by the Yueshi Culture and other non-Shang groups, there is only a sparse distribution of sites, and there is no stability in clustering as the number of Clusters changes, showing that the connectedness between different sites is relatively weak: it seems that these sites belong to a relatively looser mode of social organization. Therefore, it can be seen that during the Late Shang period, the Shang Dynasty’s management of the Shandong region was through combined strategies stressing the control and management of major resources and transportation routes rather than comprehensive and strong control over the entire region.

Keywords:Shuiyuanhsiaochu site; Shih-San-Hang Culture; Technical choices; Pottery technical system; operational sequence

Abstract:According to the excavation in 2017, Shuiyuanhsiaochu site can be defined as Shih-San-Hang Culture. However, the different areas of the site have different dating results and the types of ceramics also showing their difference. Whether the difference in the types of ceramics implies the multiple manufacturing technology in the site, suggesting the diversity of social groups’ identity under the frame of the Shih-San-Hang Culture?

Based on the theory of technical choices and optionally analytical framework of operational sequence, the research will examine the pottery manufacturing technologies of ceramics unearthed from different areas and types of ceramics in the Shuiyuanhsiaochu site. Whether there are multiple technical systems in the site, and whether the pottery manufacturing technologies were continuously operated through time in the site? In addition, in order to examine the similarities and differences of techniques of Shuiyuanhsiaochu site under the frame of the Shih-San-Hang Culture, the research will compare the technological styles of Shuiyuanhsiaochu site with that of Shih-San-Hang site.

The results show that the pottery manufacturing technologies of the Shuiyuanhsiaochu site are quite different between the areas and the types of ceramic. Besides, the technologies in the later period are similar to the Shih-San-Hang site. The different techniques in the site may be due to different intended usage of the pottery between areas, and the change of potter’s preference for manufacturing technology. The pottery manufacturing technology of the Shuiyuanhsiaochu site not only presents the common techniques under the frame of Shih-San-Hang Culture, but also has its own unique aspects, which is different from the typical red-brown sandy ware of Shih-San-Hang Culture. Furthermore, some technologies of Shuiyuanhsiaochu site have not changed through time, which shows the insistence of the manufacturing technology and the group identity of the people of the site.

Keywords:chao-du fahui; lingji; private temple shrine; popular religion

English Abstract:This study focuses on the ritual ‘‘Chao-du Fahui’’(超度法會) which purpose is to restore cosmic order and purify the local community by delivering the deceased.  Different from traditional popular religion rituals, for example, the jiao(醮), which has a similar ritual purpose and base on the local community and local temple. Chao-du  fahui is held by private temple shrine and conduct in various places. Moreover, this ritual claims to deliver the ‘indigenous ghost’ which is unfamiliar in the Han popular religion. Therefore, in this thesis, I tried to clarify how these local rituals can be worked in the de-territorial situation and why the chao-du fahui starts to include the indigenous culture in recent years.

In this regard, I analyze the cult of Muniang(母娘) and the ritual practitioners. The doctrine of this cult emphasizes the idea of salvation rather than acquiring the transcendental power by pilgrimage as the local temples usually do. In other words, helping the death of different ethnic group to reincarnation is in accord with the requirements of the doctrine. On the other hand, these ritual practitioners are spirit medium called ‘‘lingji’’(靈乩). By participating in chao-du fahui , lingji can eliminate karma and improve the ability of mediumship. Meanwhile, through the reaction in lingji’s body causing by the clothing, music, and dancing, I argue that the intensive sensory effect and subjectivity of lingji which the practitioners can gain in the ritual scene is the reason why lingji believe themselves having the ability to accomplish salvation and the chao-du fahui can have the efficacy to reconstruct the cosmic order.

Keywords: Maljeveq ; Paiwan ; cultural heritagization ; cultural Revitalization ; social memory ; landscape ; Maljeveq

This research aims to explore how a local multi-cultural community constructed its identity and accumulated inner political energy under the nation’s heritagization policy and how it mobilized existing cultural logic and social memory mechanism to transform the national policy as resource and agency on cultural practice.
This thesis is based on the ethnographic fieldwork at the indigenous Paiwan tribe, Vungalid, and its related villages which belong to Paumaumaq of Paiwan indigenous group in Laiyi Township of Pingtung County, Taiwan. It discusses how the local community creates space to act through appropriating their cultural idiom, political rhetoric and social norms to connect with national cultural policy and resource through two cases of heritagization in recent years: the double-sided ancestral post as the national treasure of Taiwan and the revitalization of Maljeveq, a ceremony of spearing rattan ball.
The significance of this study is firstly linking up a research gap on Paiwan-Chimo’s culture and ethnic relations of Vungalid since the 1950s. This ethnography of local cultural practice in a Taiwan’s indigenous society starts from indigenous experience to reply modern Western mainstream theory focusing on cultural heritage and museums as cultural resistance and identity in the post-colonial era. Moreover, this study discusses how a local community reacts to nation’s ethnic governance and the heritagization trend and has further discussion on the meaning of indigeneity and locality in the context of globalization and post-colonization.
The Vungalid tribe, a Paiwan local society constituted by heterogeneous communities of different origins, tactfully used its character of centralized society with some Paiwan’s cultural concepts: umaq(house), kadjunangan(territory), vuvu (ancesor) and rituals, to re-contextualize the power of the nation and its agency. This process has permitted local society regaining power when it faces modern complex political competitions and the localization of Christianity faith. To sum up, this case study not only reminds us to rethink the interaction between the cultural heritage and the social memory of the local community from the angle of ceremony, landscape and transformation of material culture, but also presents the contemporary characteristics of Paiwan.

Keywords: prehistoric nephrite artifacts of Taiwan ; Dapengkeng Culture ; Peinan Culture ; stratified society ; gap of the disappearance of nephrite artifacts

Abstract: This thesis is about how the “Nephrite artifacts” of the Neolithic Age in Taiwan appeared, what role they played in prehistoric society, and the discussion of how nephrite disappeared in the end. Looking at the position of nephrite artifacts in different periods of social culture, I will try to re-think research on the Neolithic Age of Eastern Taiwan. At the same time, I regard the “Nephrite” and “Prehistoric Societies” as the active subjects of a mutual dialogue, trying to interact with the current mainstream.
The emergence of nephrite artifacts can be traced back to developments in East Asia. On the one hand, this paper observes the context of the appeareance of nephrite artifacts in the Dapenkeng Culture; on the other hand, it also examines the social phenomena of the Dapenkeng Culture through nephrite artifacts. I will argue that in the early days of the Dapenkeng Culture, people entered from the west and had strong interactions with the Penghu Islands. At that time, nephrite was not present; in the late Dapenkeng Culture, nephrite craftsmen from the North was the result of a second immigration. That is, in the late stage of the Dapenkeng Culture, the nephrite craftmen arbitrarily entered into Eastern Taiwan. The second wave of people entered Taiwan carrying specific technologies, including agricultural technology in southern China, such as rice culture; it also carried the unique production and industrial technologies from the North, such as the technology of identifying nephrite. The people who entered Taiwan in the early Neolithic Periods should be marine groups travelling by sea.
In the Middle and Later Neolithic Age, nephrite articles continued to develop. A large number of nephrite articles appeared in all parts of Taiwan, and the emergence of nephrite artifacts evolved into “production for exchange”. The discussion of “specialization”, “commodification”, and “prestige goods” shows that there was a stratified society in Eastern Taiwan in the late Neolithic period.
Finally, in the late Neolithic period, nephrite artifacts suddenly disappeared with the advent of the Iron Age. There is growing evidence that the continuity of nephrite artifacts had been severely disrupted, and the disappearance of nephrite artifacts in the Iron Age is abrupt. I believe that the glass beads and agate beads entered the prehistoric society of Taiwan, but were not the cause of the disappearance of nephrite; people who made nephrite artifacts disappeared, and Taiwan societies had no choice but to receive glass beads and agate beads in the Iron Age.

2018 Thesis Topics and Abstracts

Keywords: Thailand; gender; environmental movement; gold mine

English Abstract:This study focuses on women activists of the anti-gold mining movement in Loei, Thailand, it tries to address roles of women in the movement and to find out how gender roles affect the process of the movement. This thesis is divided into three main parts. First, in the “Household and Ritual” chapter, I show that women possess deep social network as a result of matrilocality and that women accumulate trust and cooperation experience in the process of rituals. Second, in the “Gold Mine and Rubber” chapter, I show how gold-mining extraction effect villagers’ lives. At the same time, the rubber gradually became the main cash drop in the villages. Rubber tapping activities let villagers earn cash during a short time and adjust their own work period. Besides, it makes women maintain their financial independence. Third, in the “Resistance and Women” chapter, I examine the diverse roles that women play in the planning phase and in the protest scene. When conflicts occur, women always strategically use their bodies as tools, they will separate man and police or military to prevent a violent scene. In addition, women continuously gain knowledge and identity through regular meetings and the weaving group. This study not only suggests that gendered practice can be a new ground for rethinking environmental movements in Thailand but also adds to the Thai contemporary environmental movement studies by three points. First, actors recognize local value. Second, villagers and NGOs now use more human rights discourse. Third, the conflict between the company and the villagers have expanded to court and it makes the actors need to be more professional.

Keywords: Thailand; Yunnanese; Chinese-speaking tourism industry; labor; temporality

Abstract:My thesis focuses on the descendants of Yunnanese migration from Thailand and Myanmar working in the tourism industry in Phuket, Thailand. The Yunnanese, famous for their entrepreneurship character, has long history of trade migration via mule caravan in the highland of Southeast Asia. In the region with multiple political entities and social structures, the Yunnanese are flexible in finding their own social position and the market niches for their economy activities. The ability of risk-taking, looking forward to exploring the world and establishing one’s own career have become the cultural logics of the Yunnanese. In the end of 1980s, with the rising Chinese-speaking tourism market contributed to Taiwanese tourists in Phuket island, the Yunnanese entered to the island and established the Chinese-speaking tourism industry monopoly which is now aimed at the tourists from China. My research questions are: Who are those “Yunnanese” working in the tourism industry in Phuket? How do they recruit into the industry? How do the Yunnanese youths understand their life situation when facing the uncertainty and temporality of the tourism industry? First, I discuss the appearance and the meaning of “middleman” role of the Yunnanese in contemporary Thai society and the tourism industry. Second, I analyze the operation of the Chinese-speaking tourism industry in Phuket island. I argue that the identification of “Yunnanese” has ethnic significance in the particular labor circumstances. Lastly, I focus on the labor regime of the industry. Basing on the stories of the Yunnanese youths, I discuss that the Yunnanese youths have their own comprehension of their labor situation. I argue that the ethos of Yunnanese and the characteristic of Chinese-speaking tourism industry in Phuket island generate “hope” which makes Yunnanese youth understand their life situation and keeps them moving forward to achieve their “success” constantly.

Keywords:Bunun; Kalibuan; tourism; ritual; authenticity; culture

No English Abstract

Keywords: Museums; Cultural Heritage; Heritage Discourse; Taiwan

English Abstract:Since democracy arrived in Taiwan with the ending of the Martial Law in 1987, the people of Taiwan found themselves with the freedom to determine what constitutes Taiwaneseness. With this freedom, the highly polarised nature of Taiwan society surfaced and characterised Taiwan politics. Central is the question whether Taiwan has a shared Chinese culture or a unique Taiwanese one. This is not an academic question. China bases its claim on Taiwan on a shared heritage. Despite this claim, Taiwan functions as an independent country aspiring to nationhood. An acknowledged nation-building institution is museums. These are venues where the “Authorised Heritage Discourse” is transmitted. It is through museums that a country’s identity is visualised, and the boom Taiwan has seen the establishment of museums reflects this.

With this museum boom, and given Taiwan’s polarised politics, the questions arise as to what is the Authorised Heritage Discourse expressed by Taiwan’s museums, to what extent are they controlled, by whom, and for what purpose? To address these, 19 museums spread across Taiwan were visited. At these visits, the context of the museums rather than the content of the exhibitions was object of study, so not the individual displays, but the overall narrative shining through. Emphasis was on publicly-operated museums, including nine national museums, but a number of privately-operated museums were also visited for alternative perspectives. The museums have been categorised and discussed by museum theme, including ethnography, ecomuseum, archaeology, literature, human rights, and fine arts. The discussion is then capped by an analysis of dedicated history museums.

When analysing the Authorised Heritage Discourse emerging from the museum exhibitions, it becomes apparent that it is the recent, post-World War II period for which there is the greatest disparity between museums. The deciding factor on the chosen discourse is not what one might expect, whether a museum is a national museum or not. Rather, the museum themes are more relevant. In general, museums that put Taiwan history on a timeline and aim to give a comprehensive account are prone to be lighter on social issues. This is also the case with ethnic museums and ecomuseums that focus on a group or locality. It is the human rights museums and the national museum of literature where dark heritage, authoritarian rule, strained inter-ethnic relations and the struggle for democracy are clearly articulated. The analysis shows the wide range of heritage discourse in Taiwan. The Authorised Heritage Discourse shows little sign of effective control, even between governmentally controlled museums.

Research into the Authorised Heritage Discourse visualised at museums is especially relevant to Taiwan due to its history of rulers forcing identity onto its people. With democratisation, the people of Taiwan can now create heritage. Making the narrative of Taiwan museums explicit contributes to keeping this process transparent. The authority museums assume comes with accountability. Analysis such as in this thesis promotes this.

Keywords: Singapore; Multiculturalism; Multicultural; National Museum; National Identity

Abstract:The Republic of Singapore claimed its independence in 1965. There are four major ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays, Indians and Others) living altogether in this young nation. Experiencing the one-party governmental ruling for years, people of diverse ethnicities have been fighting for a stable economy and peaceful social order. In addition, Singapore is a museum-dotted city state. The country’s territory is about the same size of Greater Taipei, and there are more than 50 museums exhibiting Singapore’s material culture. Multiculturalism is never absent in the historical discourses among national museums and related cultural organizations.

From collections, to exhibitions, and museum events, we are able to witness that the National Museum of Singapore aims at cultivating the Singaporeans’ taste and habitus, disciplining their ethnic and historical knowledge and identity, and establishing a multicultural museumscape. The power of imagined community enables them to continue situating themselves in the society, and reflecting on their relationships with other ethnic groups, and thus making the museum a significant contact zone for Singapore stories.

This research utilizes ethnography on the National Museum of Singapore as a case study. For improving the nation’s development, the Singaporean government puts emphasis on multiculturalism. As a result, museums and many kinds of national cultural organizations eagerly rely on the citizens’ “participating discourse,” allowing the local audience to be the interpreters of museum displays, and becoming the medium to fully visualize the exhibits’ characteristics and stories. The Singaporean museums allow the local audience to easily switch their identities between being Singaporean and being Chinese/Malay/Indian/Other when facing the national discourses represented by museums, in order to cater to the national interest. Finally, the museum also showcases the modern country’s subtle relationship between the government and its citizens, which can be described as “cooperation with separateness.”

Keywords:Colonial Modernity; Seediq; Qing-Liu; Kawanakajima; Yu-sheng(survivors); agency

English Abstract:This thesis mainly focuses on Qing-Liu tribe which used to be called Kawanakajima in the Japanese colonial period. Seediq people who survived from the Wushe rebellion were forcibly relocated to this new location in 1931. This paper argues that how these Yu-sheng(survivors) regain their lives and reconstruct their new village, and how they became a “model tribe” in the Japanese colonizer’s eyes. In this historical process, there are also what we need to concern. The fact that the Wushe rebellion uprising prompted the government-general (總督府) to launch sweeping Aboriginal policy (理蕃政策) reforms as important frames of this paper, I also rethink that how colonialism and colonial modernity interrelate each other. Following chapters are consequently composed by three important modern concepts which are space, time and body. 

In the last part, I completely turn the perspective over to the different direction. Throughout examining the colonial emotion and memory of Seediq people, this thesis also tries to cast off the binary opposition of colonialism such as colonize and be-colonized. Their emotions and memories of ambivalence affords us the new perspective to view colonialism and people’s agency in the colonial history that previous studies have never discussed.

Keywords:urban Pancah/Amis; public housing; materiality; community

English Abstract:My thesis focuses on Haibing public housing and the Pancah/Amis live there, revealing the social relations the inhabitants co-constructed with the material factors of the public housing. Indigenous people from eastern Taiwan have moved to urban areas in northern Taiwan since 1960s. Some of the Pangcah/Amis occupied the land on Bachimen, the peripheries of Keelung. With years of eviction and negotiation, residents reached an agreement on public housing project with the city government. Haibing public housing was completed in 1995, and most of the former residents moved in to the five-story apartments.

Haibing public housing was born under different structural and institutional powers, including urban planning, public housing policy, and the governance on indigenous people. I focus on how these powers enact in substantial places. I analyze how the materialities of Haibing public housing was interweaving in the new social relations and the imaginaries of communities in three different aspects. First, I focus on households and the socio-materiality of home. Second, I analyze the heterogeneous network of human and non-human, which developed out from the planting/gathering patches around the public housing. Lastly, I focus on the urban illisin as a process of the production of locality, discussing the emergence of the imaginary of the community of “urban niyaro.” With the results above, I argue that the material, spatial and institutional changes of public housing was interweaving and co-constructing with the social relations of the residents.

This is an ethnographic account of how a Pangcah community in Taiwan recreated herself in response to external politico-economic forces. It investigates how the Makutaay Pangcah people re-positioned their subjectivity and realized their visions of living in their indigenous hometown while living under unequal power relationships.
I analyze the subjectivity and identity formation of the Makutaay and discuss mainstream modernity discourses from the perspectives of paddy field and dry farmland cultivation styles, types of crops (paddy rice and glutinous rice), the land resistance movements and efforts at land re-cultivation, the undomesticated vegetable planting and the role female farmers played therein as well as the the sensory aesthetics involved, and the developments of farming and art.
One of the reasons why the Makutaay Pangcah chose paddy field farming as a cultural tradition is that slash-and-burn and dry farmland cultivation have not been entirely replaced by paddy field farming in the past one hundred years. In the transition from dry land farming to paddy field cultivation, glutinous rice took the place of millet and subtly linked millet with paddy rice. The prevalence of paddy field cultivation also changed how some non-staple foods were produced. Although the production of undomesticated vegetables is more similar to slash-and-burn or dry land farming than paddy field cultivation, vegetables have been produced in the pattern of paddy field cultivation ever since some female farmers turned some paddy fields into vegetable gardens. In addition, the sensory aesthetics of the Makutaay Pangcah, such as their high regard for the tastes and textures of bitterness, saltiness, stickiness, and creaminess can be discerned in their consumption of undomesticated vegetables as well. The sensory aesthetics represent some ideal Pangcah cultural characteristics, and, by looking into these, we can also make more explicit the implicit dialogues between the Pangcah people and capitalism that shapes some globalized senses, such as sweetness.
Having introduced the Makutaay Pangcah’s historical, cultural, and politico-economic background, I subsequently address the problem of land loss and how they re-positioned their community identity in the condition of modernity through land resistance movements and re-cultivation efforts. In short, Makutaay Pangcah people who had migrated to big cities returned in the 1990s and brought their diasporic experiences back to their hometown, which helped to re-form community identity. During this re-formation, the people both cooperated with and resisted state power. They protested against some government bureaus and asked for their lands to be returned on the one hand, while cooperating with other government agencies on the other, thus allowing them to begin implementation of paddy field re-cultivation in order to preserve the land they still had. Moreover, Makutaay discarded conventional farming and adopted eco-friendly farming to produce rice, and made use of mipaliw, a traditional reciprocal ethical principle, to create an image of the Makutaay Pangcah. By doing so, they self-branded and freed themselves from being marginalized rice producers in the globalized market; meanwhile rice production re-articulated traditional culture. Not only did re-cultivation reconnect the people with the land, it also sparked the development of art there, allowing people to respond to social change by creating a life style together with a vision of life in the future.
The aim of this research is to provide a response to some fractural descriptions of the indigenous peoples’ diaspora and their social adaptation in modernity discourses. Contrary to the top-down viewpoint of development, the case of Makutaay Pangcah and their practice of returning home to reposition themselves demonstrate how bottom-up development could be possible in the contemporary world.

2017 Thesis Topics and Abstracts

Keywords:Resistance; governance; indigeneity; everyday forms of resistance; Philippines

English Abstract:This is an ethnography of international indigenous movement in the Philippines. The aim of the study is to understand the indigenous movement not only from the aspects of resistance, but also from the aspects of governance. Based on this concern, I would like to reflect on the concept of the “everyday forms of resistance.” Especially since the Philippine government started to revise the local government code and the other related policies in the late 1980s, the relationship between the dominant and the oppressed are changed a lot. That is, both government and activists use NGO/PO as their organizing mechanism, and it causes the locals neither identify who to fight nor who to cooperate with. According to the phenomenon, I argue that the locals would use the everyday forms of resistance as their strategies to make sure they would get the most safty or benefit when they are in the slot between the government and the activists. Therefore, I would like to describe how the government and activist established their power relations between the locals. Then, how the locals considered and practiced within these two different power relations. Finally, I tried to reflect on the concept of the “everyday forms of resistance” and even the issue about the hegemony and governance.

Keywords:technical choices; Botanical Garden culture (Zhi-Wu-Yuan culture); Tapenkeng site (TPK); Chiuchashan site (CCS);Tayuanchienshan site (TYCS); laterite; banded pottery

English Abstract:Material performance has always been the starting point of understanding an archeological culture. Multiple sites coming from the same culture often display similar combinations of archeological remains, with similar form or style. However, this classification cannot present the connotation of each sites, and the differences between them.

  With the approach of ‘technical choice’ in the manufacturing process, we are able to compare the technical system between sites, and observe—not taking into account the context of different cultural backgrounds—whether slight differences exist due to factors such as natural environment, ability to utilize nearby resources, and personal mobility. Through this comparison, we can explore artifacts production preferences and technical ideas behind each site. Based on this finding, we can then compare the quality of production or focus on key issues of ethnic identity.

  This study uses the ‘technical choice’ approach as its methodology to look at three subgroups of Botanical Garden Culture in different sites, each located in a distinct geographical location and geological environment. The central question is: in the context of different environments and differing historical developments, do these sites retain certain manufacturing traditions, or do they adapt and adjust for local characteristics accordingly? Analysis results indicate that there is no significant difference in the pottery production system between these three sites, which reflects the strong identity of the people and the resilience of cultural traditions, transcending differences in time and space and environmental restrictions to achieve a considerable degree of consistency.

  This research takes a closer look at the pottery production system and focuses on the special banded pottery often discovered in the Botanical Garden Culture. This type of pottery is often regarded as a typical characteristic of the Botanical Garden Culture. However, there is little discussion on this topic in the current academic literature. In this study, we compare the results of petrographic analysis and the composition of the raw materials in connection to the geological area to propose a hypothesis: the potters make good use of laterite’s nature—it softens when water is added, and hardens when dehydrated. Also, there is free iron oxide in the laterite, resulting in strong chemical bonding force. Mixed with clay, the laterite boasts enhanced plasticity, stability and intensity.

  However, the similarity of technical choices cannot be directly attributed to ethnic identity; the production of banded pottery also requires further discussion and verification. We hope this study can provide a basis for future research in the pottery analysis of the Botanical Garden Culture and offer insights into the understanding of the its pottery production system and banded pottery manufacturing technology, in order to take a glimpse of the connotation of the Botanical Garden Culture people.

Keywords:pottery analysis; technical system; skill; cultural transmission; Fuyuan Site

Abstract:Craft production is influenced by various factors, including social relations, social organization, the demand for crafts, the environment and cultural symbols. Thus, manufacturing technology can reflect how the ancient society worked. The aim of this study is to examine the technical system on the basis of pottery recovered in a Neolithic site of Hualien ─ Fuyuan Site. Besides, this study focused on the degree of skill which can be analyzed by some indexes. Time and space scales were also discussed in this thesis.

  The results revealed that the way the ancient Fuyuan people making their pottery didn’t change much. However, the firing skill improved in the more recent period, there is a possibility that they chose to make more effort to firing process. Overall, their ceramic technical system remained the same tradition for a period of time, showing a certain degree of consistency in pottery manufacturing. The ancient Fuyuan people might not have the need to change their way of living, or even with some incentives, they still decided to perform the same tradition year after year.

Keywords:HaiAnn site; technology style; technological tradition; jar rim

English Abstract:Based on the theory of technological choices, this research explores the technological tradition and potters’ preference of techniques as seen in the rims of pottery vessels from HaiAnn Site at different time periods. The study also re-examines the typological approach that was previously adopted to understand pottery styles from late Neolithic to Metal Age in Yi-lan area, and attempts to provide some discussions from a different perspective.

The attribute analysis and ethnographical data are used here to study the preference of HaiAnn potters, the variations of technological style, and the possibility and significance of these changes. The attribute analysis helps us to see the changes, especially those of the characteristics of pottery, at this site during different periods of time. As for the ethnographies of Taiwan and other areas, they provide a basis to compare ceramic technological choices and to discuss the meanings of potters’ technological choices and the technological tradition of pottery.

The result shows that the technological style and choices varied with time. For the middle period, there are two groups of pottery rims different in technological styles. One of them is likely to be a continuation from earlier times. The other, with new technological style, might indicate the arrival of new group of people or other possibilities. From the middle to the late period, the technological style went through a significant change. Two sets of technological style are observed among the vessel rims, which might be attributed to the difference in functions. In sum, this study suggests that the potters of HaiAnn Site were not a static and fixed group and the changes in technological choices can be observed for different periods of time.

Keywords:Formosan Landlocked Salmon; Oncorhynchus masou formosanus; Conservation; multi-species; Actor-Network Theory; Shei-Pa National Park

Abstract:This essay aims to discuss how contemporary wildlife conservation is embedded within the mutual penetration of human and “nature” in the age of the Anthropocene. By taking the reservation of Formosan Landlocked Salmon of Shei-Pa National Park as the research subject, this thesis discusses how numerous nonhuman actors, Formosan Landlocked Salmons, and human activities co-constitute and respond to the reservation scheme. To be specific, in the core area that witnessed the massive development of alpine husbandry, the national park has made the gradual growth of the number of salmon as well as its expansion into distributed terrains as its primary means of reservation, which is dependent upon the relational networks between the inherent nature of salmons and numerous actors. Its practice includes the maintenance of habitats, artificial propagation techniques, the release of salmon into area beyond its ruled territories, and cooperation with surrounding communities, etc. In this regard, the reservation was neither the product of the top-down approach of the governmentality of the national park, nor the result of the mutual resistance and subjectivity of the aboriginal communities, the localization of global environmentalism, or the representation of Taiwan’s nationalist consciousness.   

Alternatively, this essay regards reservation as a process open to definition, creating different problems and opportunities for engaged actors. Viewing from the standpoint of everyday conservation landscape, the nature of salmon and its relation to human being have also evolved in the reservation process, becoming part of the local life landscape. Therefore, the reservation of Formosan Landlocked Salmon is not the restoration of the ecological system under the development of economic agriculture. It further involves the process in which human and numerous nonhuman beings co-constitute the ecological system, which provides us with many other possibilities to transcend the dualist view that sees this process either as destruction or preservation.

    In retrospect, this essay evolves around three theses: 1. To reflect upon the theoretical assumption of the duality between nature (ecology) and culture (human activities) by arguing that this regional reservation project is based upon the development of agriculture and has been a part of agricultural activities. Therefore, the reservation is not the total restoration of an ecological system. Rather, it is the positive and manmade construction of ecology that has created tension with many nonhuman species. 2. The properties of salmon and other nonhuman species have also shaped the reservation scheme on different scales. Therefore, the reservation is not commanded by the national park from top to bottom, nor is it shaped by the local knowledge of aboriginal people about the salmon. These two approaches are both unable to bring the case study under its conclusion. 3. Reservation is open to definition. This means that the understanding of reservation for local people is an open process, always re-involving new actors on different scales under its scheme and yielding different problems and opportunities alike. In the end, it has drawn nonhuman species, the development of agricultural economy, and human activities onto a spectacular reservation landscape.

One way to answer the question why people put their faith in ritual specialists is through the notion of authority. Scholars of ritual have proposed two ways in which ritual authority can be constructed: 1) through knowledge of the correct way to perform rites; and 2) through the performance of rites that produce certain desired effects. In this view, authority is thus either based on orthopraxy or efficacy. Other scholars have pointed out that the construction of authority is a social process in which the position in a so-called ‘field’ and the relations with other specialists should also be taken into consideration. In this dissertation, I discuss the construction of religious authority among Taoist priests in northern Taiwan who identify as part of the Cheng-it (Zhengyi) tradition, focusing on one aspect of their work—the performance of major ceremonies involving multiple priests. Data was collected through ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2013 and 2016.
In addition to the introduction (chapter 1) and conclusion (chapter 11), this dissertation consists of 9 chapters. In chapters 2 and 3, I describe the religious context in which the priests were active and the ritual systems that the priests would employ, arguing that even if priests would make clear distinctions between the tō and hoat rites, both traditions would play a complementary role in the practice of the priests. In chapter 4, I give a brief historical overview of Taoist practice in northern Taiwan, arguing that practice as it existed by the time I was doing fieldwork was the result of specific local and historical factors. Chapter 5 looks at the different ways that priests were trained and gained access to the ‘field of priests’. Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the importance of orthopraxy, its implication for Taoist practice and the relation between orthopraxy and authority, using the example of the jiao and a newly introduced rite called tng tai pai pio (dengtai baibiao) or Ascending the platform to present a memorial. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss the toa-po͘-un, the major healing rite of the northern priests and the connection between efficacy and authority. In chapter 10, I discuss the different ways in which the ceremonies of the priests were organized.
In the conclusion, I argue that while efficacy and orthopraxy both played a role in the establishment of authority, a priest’s authority could not be reduced to either of them. Rather, the construction of authority was a social process in which relations with other priests and the way a priest entered the field played a key role.

This paper is to study the topic 「A Study on the Prehistoric Culture In the North of Taiwan From 5000 to 4000 Years」and mainly discusses the ” Suntangpu Culture ” which is known in the northern region around 5000-400 years ago, including:(1) reviewing the Suntangpu Culture and related problems in the prehistoric period of 5000-2004 in northern Taiwan; (2) to explore the differences between the Suntangpu Cultural and Tapenkeng Culture; (3) to compare the differences between Suntangpu Cultural and the same period and the archaeological culture in different regions; (4) to review the connotation and definition of archaeological culture in the northern region between 5000 and 4000 years ago.
In this paper, the use of stratigraphy, typology, chronology, etc., to compare the various types of pottery unearthed in the time changes, through comparison and analysis, in order to understand 5000 – 4000 years ago prehistoric culture in the northern region appearance and evolution trend.
The excavation of the Bali-Jiucheng site shows the remains of Tapenkeng Culture and Suntangpu Culture those were suggested to have inherit by time and uncovered with the same layers, both two archaeological remains can not be clearly identified in the stratum, while the cultural layer is show the raw soil layer and no longer found earlier remains. Does this mean that the two archaeological cultures are not interited but co-existence, or that the two archaeological cultures are actually could be seem as one archaeological culture; it is mean the different type of pottery especially that “TPK Corded” is actually one of the many pottery produced by the crowd at that time, so that the pottery shards presence of the ridge and the other patterned pottery in the cultural layer does not represent the different cultural traditions, and is more likely to be the same cultural traditions of people in different time limits and pottery use preferences specific performance.
In addition, through the comparative analysis of the remains from the sites of the northern region, show the connotation of the sites or complex of remains which defined as Tapenkeng Culture and Suntangpu Culture connotation of the sites or complex of remains objects with the cultural are mainly distributed in the coastal dunes, terraces, riverside terraces, plains, mainly in the time from 4800 – 4000B.P., a part of them can be extended latter to 3600B.P.; because the sites location and the coastline is closely related, in other words, this earliest inhabitants moved to Taiwan from overseas areas, and most of them chose the western estuary and the wide sandy coast (bay) as a landing site and established accommodation in the coastal areas. In the face of the pressure of survival and the familiarity with the new environment , some people may choose to enter the middle and upper reaches along the estuary.
From the dating, it is shown that early immigrants may move faster and faster than ever than we thought before. And in terms of the archaeological culture, may be defined to as ” Suntangpu Phase of Tapenkeng Culture “. In addition, at the level of regional comparison, the rest of Taiwan has the same archaeological remains and phenomenons.
This paper shows that the earliest stage of the Neolithic Age in Taiwan has an “archaeological culture” featuring the cord ware as the main feature, which covers the island and the Penghu island, about 4800 years ago; this archaeological culture is called Tapenkeng Culture, but there are some minor differences, which means the Tapenkeng Culture moved to Taiwan being the localization performance.

Keywords: Hakka of Sabah ; transnational network ; Hakka society ; Hakka church ; ethnic culture construction

Abstract: This research focuses on the Hakka Chinese in Sabah, Malaysia, to explore the establishment of Hakka society and its manifestation of the Hakka community from the perspectives of social organization and transnational network. Sabah Hakka society was founded in the late nineteenth century due to Chinese political and economic development in the backdrop of British businessmen’s colonial development in Sabah as well as the Cantonese Hakka’s massive migration flow into the South China Sea. Among the immigrants were Hakka Christians who came along with Basel Mission as well as Hakka people according to the development project of British North Borneo Chartered Company. These people constructed the main body of Sabah Chinese society. In the 1940s, ethnic knowledge of Hakka people originating from China was passed down to Sabah. Various Hakka societies were gradually established in Sabah, playing the role to unite the Hakka and to pass on the Hakka ethnic knowledge. After 1960, the Sabah Hakka society and the Hakka church both faced certain structural changes. In order to strive for own society’s rights and interests in the face of a new founding nation, Malaysia, Hakka societies were intensively set up in various areas and gradually formed a united national organization, thus a Malaysian Hakka network was set up. At the same time, the Basel Christian Church of Malaysia, which was originally rooted in the Sabah Hakka community, began to move out of Hakka and Malaysia to embrace for non-Hakka and non-Chinese groups to show its universal religious characteristics. In the globalization era, the Hakka society and church have established and actively practiced their transnational goals as Hakka societies and missionary network respectively. Through close observation and analysis of transnational networks, the political and economic-based transnational Hakka network and its class phenomenon is thus revealed. From the expansion of Basel Christian Church of Malaysia, we can also see the Hakka ethnic re-connection movement with Chinese native land. The most recent trend is that, in the 21st century, the Hakka society and Hakka church began to intersect with respect to cultural knowledge of Hakka ethnic groups, and gradually manifest the tendency towards localization.

Keywords:  the Peinan Site ; settlement pattern ; building structure ; slate coffin burial ; phytolith ; rice agriculture ; site-formation process

Abstract: The motivation of this paper was derived from the Peinan Site Excavation Project Phase Two, which is the most recent excavation project started from 2010 by the excavation team in a three-year plan. The Peinan Site, the most important archaeology site in Taiwan, has the largest excavation of slate coffin burial groups, obtains the greatest amount of elegant prehistoric jades, and preserves the most abundant ancient settlement’s building structure in East Asia. The Peinan Site has been the most explored archaeological site (by scholars and researchers) from the very beginning of our Taiwan Archaeology History. Back in the 1980’s, archaeologists had conducted up to 13 rescue excavations from the fast-urban development requirement in the Peinan Site area. The rescue, thus, unveiled thousands of slate coffin burials and saved large numbers of burial grave goods from the development; in which the saved data and information had contributed many important archaeological insights for the later studies of the Peinan Site. Thus the Peinan Site Excavation Project Phase Two is the most recent significant excavation project to deepened and further understand the distribution range and cultural content of this important prehistoric site. This paper is to integrate decades of archaeological excavation data of the Peinan Site, in which includes all my interest in the pattern of prehistory settlement, the layout of building structure, the distribution of settlement, and the relevance of its environmental data. My goal is to unveil the reason the Peinan Culture people choose to settle down in the alluvial fan in front of the Pinlang-Sihge Mountain, and understand the way they use environmental resources to form and develop the Peinan prehistory settlement into such a scale.
To fully understand the layout of the prehitoric settlements and the building structures, as well as the usage and awareness of environment in the Peinan Site, this study cited archaeological theory of site-formation processes, settlement archeology and landscape archeology. This study also combined and integrated the excavation data over the years, the drilling data of the stratums, the geophysical prospecting data, the carbon dating data, and the phytolith analysis data of the Peinan Site through GIS; and further analyzed through spatial analysis to discuss the accumulation and distribution of cultural layer, the settlement pattern, and the means of livelihood.
To understand the distribution of cultural layer in the Peinan Site, I used different methods of geophysical prospect, two significant stratigraphic drilling work, and several archaeological excavations to master the formation process factors relevant to cultural layer. I also further used GIS to integrate the DTM data of the Peinan Site. After overall analysis and back and forth operation, it now shows the distribution of culture layer. To our finding, unlike the present terrain of the Peinan Site which is higher in the west side and lower in the east side, the stratum of culture layer showed in an opposite conclusion: the east side was higher than the west side in prehistoric period. Moreover, there was a relatively concave area in the southwest side, which may be part of the river sedimentary environment; the distribution of the alluvial gravel stratum from the Pinlang-Sihge Mountain was northwest to southeast; and the dating data also showed that the formation of the north side of cultural layer was earlier than the south side.
From the analysis of settlement pattern point of view, I propose a dissertation different from the “interior burial” theory by using spatial analytical method in discussing the formation pattern of the folding relationship between the building structure and the slate coffin burial area in the stratum: the Peinan Culture people used to build their settlement in a block-shaped layout, which followed the framework of the building structure distribution and the settlement layout. The framework of the block was placed as the following pattern: the burial zone in the west side, the masonry circle zone in the central, and the building structure zone in the east side; the building structure was called as “small housing”, “standing stone structure” and “stone paving floor” in correspondent from the west to the east side. After conceptionizing the prehistoric settlement pattern of the Peinan Site, we can suppose the distribution and the range of the prehistoric settlement through excavation data, and have the following hypothesis: the prehistoric people’s agency arose in their landscape usage and development began from the east side to the west side.
The phytolith analysis was introduced into the research of the Peinan Site in 2010. The Peinan Site was considered as the most prosperous prehistoric settlement in the research of its livelihood. However, the study of the means of livelihood is as scarce as the ecological remains unearthed. Therefore, I brought in phytolith analysis to the Peinan Site research to find more and further information. Through other scholar’s efforts, the Peinan Site was confirmed to have rice, which the species was identified as Indica rice and fully implied the advanced development of agriculture. In this study, I conducted a quantitative analysis from soil samples of the cultural layer to further indicate that there was a long-term and large-scale of rice farming behavior in prehistoric population in the Peinan Site, which the yield was like wetland rice farming. Moreover, the discovery of rice phytolith was closely related to the distribution of cultural layer and may be the main driving source for the development of the Peinan Culture.
In general, The Peinan Site had existed during 3500B.P. to 2700B.P., its culture development was established base on their ancient’s fully understanding and adaptation of the environment, forming a set of sustainable development of the settlement layout and rice agricultural livelihood. Even though the Peinan culture ended from the alluvial gravel layer’s debris flow from the Pinlang-Sihge Mountain, which eliminated all preceding important cultural behaviors; however, the development of the Peinan Culture had showed great activity agency and association between the people and the environment.

2016 Thesis Topics and Abstracts

Keywords:Malaysian Chinese; development; environmental movement; downstream oil and gas industry

Abstract:The aim of the study is to understand the anti-petroleum complex movement in Pengerang, Malaysia from 2011-2015. I am interested in how and why people of different ethnic and class backgrounds differentially experienced and responded to the petro-development and environmental change. The thesis is divided into three parts. First, in the “Planning” chapter, I show how the development economic theory of “middle-income trap” traveled to Malaysia and informed the long term national development plans of Malaysia. I argue that the “New Economic Model/Economic Transformation Programme” proposed by the Malaysian government systematically excluded rural farmers and fishermen, deprived them of their land and sea, and legitimated the process by conforming to environmental risk assessment and land expropriation procedures. Second, in the “Resistance” chapter, I show how the constitutionally defined “non-indigenous” rural Malaysian Chinese took advantage of the political conjuncture before a general election and turned some local anti-petroleum complex grievances in a ruling coalition’s stronghold into a toppling national movement, and how the momentum of the movement dissipated due to the structural constraints the actors failed to overcome. Third, in the “Consequence” chapter, I examine the spatial dimension of the state and capital’s deployment of power after the struggle, and how the new natural and social spaces affected people and their life choices. This study adds to the Malaysian social movement studies by suggesting that we should take the dialectic relationship between ethnicity, class, and environment in social movements more seriously and attend to the particular set of chances and limitations it poses, and that we should not underestimate rural population’s potential as active sociopolitical actors.

Keywords:Niaosung site; feminist archaeology; ceramic ring; ornament; social meaning

Abstract:The Niaosung site is an Iron Age settlement located in Tainan in southern Taiwan. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the site was occupied from 1400 to 500 cal. BP. This site is considered to have been inhabited by the Siraya people, an indigenous group in Taiwan during this time period.

Four seasons of excavations have been carried out at the site by the Department of Anthropology, NTU, since the 1970’s. Among the various artifacts and ecofacts uncovered, the huge amount of ceramic rings is one of the distinctive features of the site. However, these ceramic rings were simply classified as ornaments, and no further analysis had been done. Here, I argue that other than some simple decorative purpose, these ceramic rings—previously considered to be just ornaments—might play more important roles.

Inspired by feminist critiques in archaeology, here I view these ceramic rings as a key form of evidence to study social relations in Niaosung society. The ceramic rings may be seen as an important symbolic media to understand the identity of the people. In this research, I employ three methods to investigate the social meanings of the ceramic rings. First, through attribute analysis, I try to explore possible associations between the color, form, diameter, thickness, height and the weight of ceramic rings. Second, I use ethnographic and historical records and paintings as analogy and for insights into the use of rings. Third, I compare the style and the context of the ceramic rings with those of the Siliao and Shichiao sites, both in Tainan, which are believed to be contemporaneous with the Niaosung site.

Based on the analysis of the written, pictorial, and archaeological records, I argue that the ceramic rings are more than decorations. I try to explore the possible meanings of these ceramic rings with respect to three aspects, namely gender, age and kinship. As a result, I argue that in the Niaosung society, people might express their social identity through wearing the ceramic rings, and at the same time, the wearing of similar styles of ceramic rings might be indicative of negotiation between social groups.

Keywords: Landscape; Pingxi; Old Street; Daily Life; Landscape Memory

Abstract: Pingxi Old Street in Pingxi district, different from some other scenic old streets in Taiwan that are visitor-oriented and even without any native residents, is a place where both visitor activities and resident daily lives can be found. This thesis, based on the concept of “landscape”, is to investigate: 1.) the landscape features of Pingxi Old Street as a scenic spot, 2.) how the tourism and lives of native residents are presented in Pingxi Old Street, and 3.) how native residents view the fact that Pingxi Old Street has become a sightseeing spot.

Landscape, including materials, crowds, activities, and events, has various appearances as the context of time and space varies. Landscape is also a media that inspires life and sensual experiences and memory and imagination in crowds, and connects to people closely. In this thesis, the elements that compose the landscape of Pingxi Old Street are first presented. This thesis then studies the scene that native residents live and run tourism business. For the residents, facing Pingxi Old Street full of visitors, on the one hand recalls their memories of life in the past, while on the other hand makes them to place imagination in the future.

In conclusion, there are different levels of meanings in Pingxi Old Street that are hidden behind its appearances. Native residents record their lives into Pingxi Old Street deeply through daily life and sensual experiences. Pingxi Old Street is a continuously changing landscape that is a mixture of old and new, tourism and life, and is tied closely to the residents.

Keywords:folk performance; popular religion; cultural politics; self-representation; suffering

Abstract:This thesis examines the transformation of Chio-Tian (Jiu-Tian) Folk Troupe, based in Taichung (Taizhong), from a local temple procession group to an internationally recognized entrepreneurship known for its acrobatic drum performance and folksy commodities. Formerly, the rising popularity of “folk performance” (Yi Zhen) in Taiwan is often attributed to the carving of Taiwanese “indigenousness” in the context of post-Cold War cultural politics, as the Taiwan central government attempts to shift from the cultural image of “Free China” to one that embodies a “unique” Taiwanese identity.

  Nevertheless, a more nuanced inquiry into the troupe’s development indicates that former attempts to classify folk performance into exclusive categories of performance art, folklore, religion, or delinquent education by the culture sector fail to encapsulate the multifaceted nature of traditional folk performance, ultimately leaving troupes without a proper channel to secure sufficient funding for development. Therefore, this phenomenon reveals the inner conflict within Taiwan’s current multiculturalist policy, in which cultural differences became inadequately subjected to universal assumption and categorization under the cultural administration, which has hampered the potential development of folk performance in Taiwan.

  On the other hand, however, the multiple characteristics of folk performance were also reconstituted by Chio-Tian into specialized social activities in the forms of drum instruction, theatrical performance and commercial spectacles through the employment of a business management model, giving Chio-Tian the success much needed to compensate meager government funding. Further, these specialized activities could also be reincorporated into a creative cultural form of its own to enhance the troupe’s publicity, which is manifested in the troupe’s annual Tour de Taiwan Ultramarathon event. Featuring youth athletes carrying deity puppets of the popular Third Prince (San Tai Zi) in an island-wide race during summertime, the event sensibly combine the marketing of cultural products, drum performance and the troupe’s cultural events with the inspiring image of Taiwanese youths bravely crossing around the island by foot. In doing so, the immense suffering and toil endured by these athletes became an embodiment of the continuing struggle the troupe has gone through in its expansion from a temple procession group to a renowned performance art troupe.

  Moreover, the constant media coverage throughout the event showcases how the troupe has evolved from relying entirely on external media reportage to developing its own self-representation mechanism in Facebook fan pages, theme songs and film shooting, etc. Against this fieldwork backdrop, I argue that native anthropologists, as ethnographic writers anticipated to bring forth the “uniqueness” of their home culture, are in danger of unconsciously becoming complicit with the informants’ self-representation, which further implies a concealed form of cultural nationalism.

  In conclusion, the cultural transformation of Chio-Tian manifests an alternative form of contemporary folk performance which, in lack of government subsidies, strives to represent itself as a brand of “Taiwaneseness” by constantly evoking the troupe’s past suffering during temple processions, cultural events and overseas excursions. In addition, it is a novel form of folk culture that transcends the epistemic duality of cultural essentialism and politico-economic reductionism manifested in former studies of folk performance, which often present the subject as either a continuation of popular religion, or a political and commercial invention driven by party politics and late capitalism.

Keywords: Japan; Taiwan; MOA natural farming; Sekai Kyusei Kyo; natural healing; alternative agriculture network; pilgrimage

Abstract:This study focuses on the “MOA international community” derived from the Oriental Light, one branch of the Japanese new religion Sekai Kyusei Kyo (World Salvation Teachings). From an organizational point of view, I analyze the alternative agriculture network of MOA natural farming both in Japan and Taiwan by way of multi-point Fieldwork Ethnography. In addition, I explore how to use the doctrine of the MOA community, namely, “elastic structure of thought”, to produce a natural healing hierarchy system, and how to mitigate the conflict in concept and practice in order to build a Japan-centric multi-national farming network and the mode of organizational reproduction.

For the purpose of organizational expansion, MOA followed Okada Mokichi’s concept of natural healing, which is a dual symbolic structure that combines religion and science. On the one hand, MOA developed a scientific system of knowledge and teaching of natural farming. On the other hand, they also developed a set of dual symbols of hierarchy, which is able to freely converse the symbol of hierarchy between inner morality and external action. While MOA emphasizes the cross-border expansion and various pilgrimage activities to Japan to justify the supremacy of Okada’s idea and Japanese centricity, in the case of networks in MOA natural farming in Taiwan, we find that the Japanese religious communities and the “Okada Purifying Therapy” is still the core of MOA international community. Therefore, even though the farming network in Taiwan lacks Okada’s concept of natural healing and local community of farmer experts, they still maintain the MOA international community’s daily operation and integrity of the network of natural farming in Taiwan through self-cultivation of Okada’s three therapies in everyday life and the pilgrimage to Japan.

The results of this study show that the daily self-cultivation of Okada’s three therapies and the pilgrimage to Japan in the MOA international natural farming network not only reveals that the MOA natural healing order is a symbolic structure of accidental opposition for the propose, but also demonstrates MOA’s Japanese Enlightenment, which is strengthened by repeated performances that take Japan as the center of civilization. In this way, we are able to better understand the alternative agriculture network developed by Japanese new religions and the features of the concepts of natural healing in this network, as well as explore in depth contemporary Japanese new religion.

Keywords: Kenting; indigenous peoples; immigrations; folk tale; Princess of Eight Treasure

Abstract:Before the place “Kenting” become one of the most famous tourist site in southern Taiwan, it has gone through many dramatic social and economic changes. The place has been intervened intensely by different external forces since the immigration in Qing dynasty. Diverse government institutes and enterprises had kept dividing on resources, resulting frequent migration of local people and the fragmentation of local territory. Besides, the immigration also kept interacting with different indigenous peoples. Due to the context, the place “Kenting” has no stable boundary previous Chinese folk religion research presumed, presenting a unique appearance of religion that was rarely studied before.

In my thesis, I tried to clarify the political and economic changes that Kenting has undergone since the immigration in Qing dynasty, including massive imposition of land, “228 event” and industrial transformation (from agriculture to tourism). Such attempt is to explain the development progress of Kenting and local people’s complicated feeling about external forces. Next, I use folk tale to note that “real Kenting people” is a concept with complex, ambiguous, and flexible boundaries, which has time, space and social classifications and other implications.

Then I analyze the phenomenon that there has “no temple” but still exists many kinds of distinct impression of spiritual power within Kenting settlement. The results are summarized as follows: in Kenting settlement, there exist two kinds of pursuits of immortal power: one with explicit folk religious pedigree, introduced from external of the settlement, appeared as male gods; the other kind lacking of pedigree, consisting of various foreign power, appeared as female gods. Compares to the immortal power, Ghost involves local spatiotemporal context, for example, “local gods” were worshipped by almost whole settlement residents with responsibility, but “external ghosts” only lead to social disorder.

With the result above, I start a further analysis related to the belief of “Princess of Eight Treasure” which had been concerned by some scholars. In the analysis, I try to point out that the Princess of Eight Treasure was originally a legend born in the context of local history, but in the process of practices and interpretations by local people, the exotic female spirit killed by primitives was gradually transformed into a “half immortals”. The phenomenon in Kenting settlements shows that Taiwanese folk religions have a great flexibility of interpretation to respond to the historical context and the personal / social needs.

Keywords:Fuyuan site; East Rift Valley; Chinlin Culture; Megalithic Culture; Menhir; Slate Structure; Iron age

English Abstract:The Fuyuan site is an important Neolithic site in Eastern Taiwan, with at least two prehistorical cultural layer, including Neolithic plain pottery culture and iron age culture. Because of the inaccessibility, the site was neither severely exploited nor destroyed. During the excavations of the Department of Anthropology, NTU in 2014 and 2015, abundant artifacts of potsherds, stone tools and jade tools were discovered. Around the stone walls we also discovered some regular slate structures. According to the result of surface research, more than one hundred menhirs were recorded. Several menhirs with diverse forms were also discovered during the excavation. Despite that most research in the past focused on the distribution of menhirs in the coastal range, the abundant menhirs of Fuyuan site can enrich the accumulating information of menhirs in the East Rift Valley.

    Based on the result of excavation on Fuyuan site during 2014 to 2015, and with the earlier ethnographies, this thesis tries to explain the meanings of the slat structures and stone structures. Furthermore, I discuss the definition of “Megalithic Culture” and stone structure, and the cultural meaning of Fuyuan site.

Keywords:Rukai; Vedai; Hierarchy; Material Culture

Abstract:The purpose of this study is to rethink the hierarchy of Rukai society in Vedai and its contemporary change. In past studies, the hierarchy of Rukai society has been divided into taliyalalai and lakawkawlu, however reanalyze the hierarchy of Rukai society in Vedai, besides taliyalalai and lakawkawlu, as well as sasyakawlu and 士 who through their personal capability to be recognized by indigenous people to get the social status and special rights. Therefore the hierarchy of Rukai society in Vedai not only has the principle of precedence, the personal capability to be recognized is also an important principle of hierarchy. Moreover, in previous studies, the hierarchy of Rukai society was affected by external forces, such as Japanese colonial government、Nationalist government and Christianity, causing the rights and society status of taliyalalai gradually fade away. But in my field study experience, the principle of personal capability become a way to resist, absorb and transform when indigenous people face the external force affect, especially in the process of changing material culture can be clearly seen.

On the other hand, this study also found that the relationship between male/female, elder/younger are embedded in the principle of hierarchy of Rukai society in Vedai. If indigenous people want to become a Rukai, they not only need self-identity, but have to be absorbed into family, tribe and groups through a variety of rituals from childhood. Therefore this study uses more delicate description of how indigenous people practice in their daily lives, in order to learn more about the hierarchy of Rukai society in Vedai.

Finally, this study analysises of how the taliyalalai is to be recognized and acknowledge, and re-collates every genealogy of taliyalalai lineage, on one hand to clarify the relationship of hierarchy between every taliyalalai lineage and how the taliyalalai is to be recognized, on the other hand to completely present whole concept of hierarchy of Rukai society in Vedai. Hierarchy is as shelf in the stone-board house, no matter taliyalalai or lakawkawlu, it can show the capability of person and family, and be inspected and recognized by all indigenous people at the same time.

Keywords:Christianity; utopian community; New Testament Church; Mount Zion; Holy land; Eden Homestead

Abstract:This research focuses on the study of the autonomous community “Mount Zion” (Mt. Zion), established by the New Testament Church (NTC) in Taiwan. The aim of the research is to examine the contemporary features, present its development and practice of social life, and connect with some previous studies on Utopia. In my study, it is believed that the “thought” of Utopia may exit in various cultures, if Utopia is to be generalized as an idealism of living in a wonderful society in the mortal world. Throughout the world history, it seems that most of the few communities successfully turning the thoughts of Utopia into experiment or practice have been founded by the Christian Utopian ones. On the other hand, in Chinese societies, the case of the “Utopian community” founded by the ideology of religion is scarce. Currently, the best example of this kind of community would be Mt. Zion founded by NTC in Taiwan, which preserves the Utopian way of living in the most complete and sustained fashion.

    In my study, I consider that the “Holy-Land” (promised land) owned and developed by NTC in Taiwan is a community that sustains and practices the idea of Utopia by implementing Christian religion as its culture base and blueprint of concept. NTC has many Holy-Lands in different places throughout Taiwan, even overseas. Among all, the most representative and most divine one is Mt. Zion located in Kaohsiung City. As for the other Holy-Lands following the example of Mt. Zion are called “branches of Mt. Zion”. Inside the Holy-Land, which deliberately isolates itself from the outside world, the NTC believers consciously recreates the living style similar to “Eden” and “Commune” in the beginning of the Christian Church recorded in the Bible. They live in the God-based life style, and combine “work, live, serve” as a whole. Moreover, they gained the power of self-educating the disciples’ children from Taiwan government in 1997, hence the religion-practicing living area become more mature, and is therefore called “Eden Homestead”.

    The content of my thesis firstly through the diachronic view point presents the development of NTC/Mt. Zion from 1960s to the present time, indicating how the “internal and external motivation” of the Utopia was efficiently combined by “people”, and how they further actively realized the concrete Utopia community. At the same time, the close-relationship between Christianity and Utopia was examined and revised through the study of the case of Mt. Zion. Secondly, the current study presents the social life of NTC believers in Mt. Zion through the synchronic view point, including the aspects of God-based life and God-based education, environment preservation and eco-village, production and consumption, the idea of Utopia-construction. It also recorded the NTC’ homeschooling (God-based education), daily congregation (prophecy and witness), and pilgrimage (Feast of Tabernacles in 2014). These aspects above hence depicted the profile of Mt. Zion as a Christian Utopia in contemporary Taiwan.

    Furthermore, the diachronic and synchronic results show that NTC has vividly interpreted various “in-the-name-of-God” actions, inside and outside the community through its unique religious doctrines and mobilization system, and has actively created meanings and given value to it, making it a “practice of faith”. On one hand, it has internally created cohesion within the members in the group. On the other hand, it has externally produced a motion of resistance to form and sustain the boarder of the Utopia. Therefore, Mt. Zion, the Christian Utopian community, is able to continuously “transform” and “adapt” the challenges arising from inside and outside the community under the specific social, cultural and historical context in Taiwan, and further more continues functioning till present time for over thirty years.

    Finally, this research takes the example of Mt. Zion experience to examine the qualities and conditions for a successfully established and functioning Utopian community. Moreover, the research indicates that the phenomenon of NTC/Mt. Zion is not only a religious utopian movement, but also a “special way of expression” of social movement. Last, the comparison between of Christian Utopia and secular Utopia is made, in order to enter into a dialogue with the Utopia theories in the field of anthropology.

Keywords:Ceramic Typology; Yin-Pu Culture; Niumatou Culture; Fanziyuan Culture; Chronology

English Abstract:Yin-Pu Culture is the representative of Late Neolithic in Central Taiwan. It is famous as Gray-black pottery and special artifacts, for example: Gray-black pottery with pattern, the pottery Ding with animal foot shape, the pottery Dou, Stone Knives, Shoulder-shape  Stone Axes, Perforated Stone Arrows, and so on.

About the Formation of Yin-Pu Culture. Yin-Pu Culture was regarded as the foreign culture by the different pottery color and the decoration with Niumatou culture. But both of them have some common ground in pottery. Therefore there is no Conclusive of the Yin-Pu Culture that it was foreign culture or translated by local Culture.

About the End of the Yin-Pu Culture, the Chronology of Yin-Pu Culture and Fanziyuan Culture were overlapping. Scholars have different opinions to the Chronology about it.The Differences from the different definition of Yin-Pu Culture by Scholars. To understanding the formation and distribution of Yin-Pu Culture. It should review the core of Yin-Pu Culture, to identify with the other Cultures.

This thesis attempts to use Ceramic Typology as a method to observe the Yin-Pu Culture’s ceramic. With the evolution of the style of ceramic patterns, find out the process of social and cultural change, then explore the impact of the possible causes and prehistoric cultural change caused.

As the reason of the Pottery patterns arrangement, Although previous scholars found that the accused Niumatou culture and Yin-Pu Culture significantly different, but the shape is actually rendered many heritage place. That Yin-Pu Culture is based on the Niumatou culture; Fanziyuan Culture’s pottery shapes also have many similarities with Yin-Pu Culture. Description is not breaking style change between prehistoric cultures of the central region, and more likely to be the same strain evolution

In addition, pottery of the Yin-Pu Culture period in the central region, its decorative elements type having a clear consistency between the wide area, showing the presence of the crowd common belief, this may also imply that the reason Yin-Pu Culture forming.

The ceramic typology of central Taiwan was analyzed in the thesis. The result provided the evidence belongs to the material aspect. The chronic of archaeological culture in central Taiwan also become clear after the analysis. It might become basement for relevant researches in the future.

Keywords: gaya/Taboo ; generation difference kinship ; non-profit organizgender ; gender role 

Abstract: The operation of the Truku household is based on the patriarchy which foregrounds the male gender and partrilineage. In this sense, men predominate over the household, whereas women must obey the gender taboos of gaya which regulate their behavior. In other words, men and women not only occupy different social positions, but are also endowed with different identities.This study explores the influence of gaya/utux on the relatives, kinship, gender and residence and thereby explain how the cultural symbols of gaya/utux get involved in the construction of household and kinship. Besides, through the gathering of local knowledge and the interpretation of tribal daily life, practices and rituals, the understanding is also gained about the construction of tribal household and kinship. In the meantime, the main focus is laid on breeding, feeding, dara, gaya and the obedience of gaya. Gaya predominately regulates women’s behavior, while men’s identity is based on the concept of dara/blood. As a result, dara is a significant symbol for the kinship and the continuation of household. Accordingly, gaya/utux and dara/blood have become the core of the identification with tribal kinship.
Through the field study, the researcher explores how the tribal population movements influence the construction of kinship between 1970 to 1990. Meanwhile, through the case study, and the changes in the kinship, as well as in tribal taboos between generations, will be expounded. Especially, the ecosystem of tribal household and the lifestyles of migrant workers cause tribal household to develop regional and individual life patterns, which means tribes in different regions can develop their own gaya/utux culutral symbols and norms.
From 2003 on, government-led non-profit organizations have started to construct the tribal parent-child relationship and functions. Consequently, these non-profit organizations have put governmental ideology into practice and thereby have formed new relationships in tribes. The researcher expects to increase the cultural sensibility of the workers of the non-profit organizations through the construction of household and the local knowledge of relatives.

2015 Thesis Topics and Abstracts

Keywords: hierarchy; origin narratives; ritual practice; historical transmoration; Tsou Tefuya

No English Abstract

Keywords:The Paiwan; house; power; culture heritage

Abstract:I analyzed the Paiwan tradition changing in contemporary context. Compared with past studies, house is still the basic unit in the society. House is kept by wife and husband and inherited by the eldest child (vusam), who is responsible for his/her sibling. Chief is considered the eldest child of the tribe, and it determinated the position. 

The Paiwan was seen a hierarchy society. But power structure could change by marriage or wealth. Especially through village relocation, individual ability has made power structure difference.

Meljveq(五年祭、人神盟約祭) is an important ritual for chief communicating with ancestral spirits. Recently Meljveq of this tribe was registered as cultural heritage of government by an association. It caused conflict between two chiefly household in the tribe due to the right of making decision on this ritual. It shows the system of culture heritage takes great effect on local culture.

Keywords:archaeology; archaeological sites; Cultural Heritage Preservation Act; archaeological public education; development project on site

English Abstract:Archaeological sites belong to all the peoples of the world. They should be regulate and protect by the laws.

Cultural heritages’ law start from 1930s, in ROC. From antiquities, historic monuments to archaeological sites, regulation of the law for archaeology are becoming complete. Nowadays, “Cultural Heritage Preservation Act” have 16 articles about archaeology, duty of competent authority, classification of sites, record or designated and publicly declared procedures of sites, excavation qualifications, suspended and reported to administration when the site is under construction. However, some of current articles are inconsistent with archaeological concepts, even obstructed protection or research works in archaeology.

This essay take some cases from me to raise some dilemma of law and actual manipulation, regarding some methods to deal with. In my opinion, to keep one from destroying archaeological sites, in the short term, we need temporary prescription to all sites in law. In the middle term, revising articles and structure of “Cultural Heritage Preservation Act”. In the long term, archaeological public education is the ultimate for protection work.

Keywords:Tongzhi; Taiwan; politics of sexuality; multiculturalism; citizenship; activism

Abstract:This thesis takes as its object of inquiry the current formations of Tongzhi representation and subjectivity within contemporary modernist multicultural discourses in Taiwan. The subject is discussed from three angles across three different chapters. First, using the example of Crystal Boys as allegory, the paper discusses the optics of new and emerging forms of popular representation. By comparing the earlier 2003 public television series with the more recent rendition upon the stage of the national theater, the chapter aims to complicate concepts of visibility, highlighting how different forms of representation are produced at different levels for different audiences. The proceeding chapter then takes an ethnographic turn, exploring how activists and educators involved in the Gender Equity in Education Act engage and perform within paradigms of multiculturalism, as they interact, challenge, and participate in the state’s civil society curriculum, as well as broader national goals of gender equity. The final chapter explores issues of space, consumerism, and city branding, arguing that markets and consumer spaces constitute key venues through which many contemporary Tongzhi subjectivities are negotiated. The thesis concludes with the notion that these processes affiliated with contemporary conventions of multicultural modernity contribute to large scale depoliticizations that present a distinct set of challenges to a more radical politics of difference.