The Story of Smangus at Students of Sustainability

This morning I gave a presentation about Smangus at the Students of Sustainability (SoS) conference. This year the conference is being held in Bendigo, which is not far from where I live in Australia. I attended because it was a good chance to reconnect with the academic world and activists in Australia. It was also the first time I have done a presentation about my research in Taiwan for an Australian audience.

SoS is an annual conference organised by the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN) which connects campus environment collectives from around Australia. I first attended SoS in 2004. Incidentally the 2004 conference was also the first time I met John Seed. I later had the chance to travel around Taiwan with John and visit some indigenous communities including Smangus.

My presentation, titled “The Story of Smangus: Indigenous Rights in Taiwan,” started with some background information about Taiwan and its indigenous peoples. I then followed this with some discussion of the Smangus community and the legal case about the right to use wood from a wind-fallen tree. As the key theme of the conference is sustainability I wanted people to know more about how the people of Smangus have used their traditional knowledge as the basis for a sustainable community. The word sustainability is often misused, but I think the people of Smangus and other indigenous peoples around the world have practiced sustainable ways of living for hundreds or even thousands of years. There are many lessons that can be learnt from them.

Indigenous issues are a major theme at SoS. The plenary on the first day of the conference was on sovereignty. Grassroots Aboriginal activists spoke about the topic. Their perspectives presented a radical challenge to the mainstream discourse on this issue in Australia. This afternoon I had the chance to further explore some of these issues in a workshop about working with indigenous communities. The workshop talked about the need for “decolonising our minds” in order to work effectively with indigenous peoples for justice.

Smangus presentation – Students of Sustainability [pdf file]

John Seed’s visit to Taiwan

I have just spent ten days accompanying John Seed on a trip around Taiwan. John is an environmentalist from Australia well known for his efforts protecting rainforests around the world and also as a philosopher of Deep Ecology. I met John at the Taoyuan Airport on the morning of 28 March. We then took the high speed train to Kaohsiung where we met Dr Lin Yih-ren who arranged John’s visit to Taiwan.

Visit to the Bunun community of Kalibuan

Over the weekend I visited the Bunun community of Kalibuan (Wangxiang, 望鄉部落) with a group of students from Providence University and National Chengchi University. The first stop on the way was a small museum in Xinyi Township of Nantou County. The museum contains a range of materials related to Bunun culture.

The picture above shows a reconstruction of a traditional slate house in the museum. There are also some items related to hunting and farming and a reproduction of a Bunun calendar. The Bunun were the only group of Austronesian people in Taiwan to develop a writing system. The calendar contains information about phases of the moon, hunting, farming activities and significant events like births or marriages. The knowledge about making the calendars was only held by a few families. 

On the first day in the village of Wangxiang we learnt about the farming activities.  The main crops grown in the village are village are plums and grapes. Grapes are mainly grown by people from outside the community. The land is classified as baoliudi (保留地) which can only be sold to indigenous people. However, illegal deals are used by outsiders to gain control of the land.

Neqo Soqluman, pictured on the left above, is one of my colleagues at Providence University. On the right is Dina Ibu, an elder in the community. They are part of a group that established the Tongku Saveq School to teach people about the traditional knowledge and culture of the Bunun. They have set aside some land in the village for traditional farming and seed saving. They enthusiastically introduced some of the many seeds they have planted on the land. Most of the seeds were varieties of beans.

On Sunday morning I woke up to see this view of Taiwan’s highest peak. Most people in Taiwan call it Jade Mountain (玉山), but the Bunun people call it Tongku Saveq. The Bunun people were moved to this area by the Japanese in 1938. One of the conditions for moving to the new village was that they would be able to see the peak of Tongku Saveq. The Chinese name of the village, Wangxiang (望鄉), means “the place with a view.”

The second day, Tiang, a hunter from the community led us along the hunting trail. A large group wandering along in the day time is unlikely to meet many animals. Tiang showed us some plants in the forest and also talked about some of the plant-animal interactions. His knowledge of the forest was quite extraordinary. He also told many stories about his experiences while hunting.

Another special thing about visiting Kalibuan was the singing. The Bunun are famous for their eight part harmony singing. While we didn’t get to hear this we heard a number of songs that sounded truly wonderful. It was a great weekend getting to know more about Bunun culture.

Approaching storms and millet harvest in Smangus

I went on a trip to Smangus this week. I carefully checked the weather forecast on Sunday night before I left. I was aware that Tropical Storm Lionrock and the low pressure system to the northwest of Taiwan would influence the weather during the week. However, it seemed unlikely that either of them would directly impact Taiwan. By the time I arrived in Smangus on Monday afternoon the potential tracks of the storms had changed. The low pressure system had been upgraded to a tropical storm named Namtheun and was heading for the north of Taiwan.

On Tuesday morning someone told me the police at the Xiuluan checkpoint had called several times suggesting that I leave the village. I asked a few people in the village for their advice and they didn’t seem too worried. At that stage there had only been a little light rain.  I decided to stay because I know that Smangus is a safe place. The most dangerous place to be during a typhoon is the roads and rivers. Travelling down the mountain in the middle of a torrential downpour would certainly be more dangerous than staying in the village.

Anyway with a possible storm approaching the people of Smangus took the opportunity to harvest the final field of millet for the season. A film crew from PTS (公共電視台) were there to film the harvesting for use in a documentary they are making about Smangus.

I have used some photos of the harvesting to illustrate to this blog post. The group of about twenty people moved slowly through the field. They worked efficiently but never seemed to rush.

Soon all the millet was in bundles like the one pictured above. It was then loaded onto a truck and taken back to the village. It was stored in a shed, although they will put the millet outside to dry when it is sunny.

The impending storms never eventuated. There was some rain while I was staying in the village, but nothing serious. By Wednesday morning there was bright sunshine.

Ethnoecology workshop at Smangus

On Sunday and Monday I attended a conference in Smangus. The conference, organized by National Chiao Tung University (國立交通大學), brought together a small group of anthropologists to discuss the topic of “Rethinking environment, localisation and indigenisation.” While it poured rain on the Sunday afternoon the cafe at provided a great refuge for the presenters gave their papers.

The presentations started with Dr Lin Yih-ren (林益仁) talking about the politics of the plan for the Maqaw National Park. The proposed national park covers a mountain area that is the traditional territory of the Atayal people. The social movement to promote the park developed through several stages. Initially indigenous people were not involved but an alliance between indigenous people and conservationists later developed. However, there was also another indigenous group that opposed the park. The plan for the park is now suspended but it has had an important influence on the development of ecotourism and laws related to indigenous peoples.

Jackson Hu’s paper on the fetish landscapes of the Theravada Buddhist communities in the China-Burma border region wasn’t able to attend to give his presentation, but presented via a PowerPoint presentation with a voice recording.

Kerim Friedman presented a paper on language rights in Taiwan. He looked at how Taiwan developed a place-based multiculturalism in the 1990s, based on Japanese ideas. This has led to a fragmentation of the local language market. For example, there are 43 different language tests for Austronesian languages, even though there are only fourteen officially recognised ethno-linguistic groups.

The next set of presentations were both about Amis communities on the east coast of Taiwan. Yi-tze Lee (李宜澤) talked about the development of organic agriculture in the Talampo community in Fuli (富里). Interestingly this community is known as the “dark village” (黑色部落) because it has no electricity, a name that was also once given to Smangus. Lee contrasted the organic farming practices of Talampo with those of the Chinese-speaking farmers on nearby Liushi Dan Mountain (六十石山).

Next was a presentation about the ‘Tolan community (都蘭) near Taitung. The spirit of the community was very much present as four of the five authors, all members of the ‘Tolan community, were involved in giving the presentation. They looked at the driftwood from Typhoon Morakot and how this sparked action among the young people in the community. Even though most of the young men live outside the village, they discussed the topic via their community website and this led to them taking action to assert their rights to the wood.

Anna Tsing who is a professor of anthropology at the University of California Santa Cruz was the final presenter. She is well known for her book Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection which looks at the forests of southern Kalimantan in Indonesia as a site for understanding the interplay of the local, provincial, national and global networks that shape the forests.

Tsing’s paper was on the subject of “blasted landscapes.” She looked at the ecological the harvesting of matsutake mushrooms in four countries. These mushrooms only grow on disturbed forest environments with poor soils. Hence they can be used to understand the ecological concept of disturbance. The disturbed landscapes the matsutake mushrooms grow on show how humans can live in disturbed environments. For example, in the US Pacific Northwest the mushrooms are picked by Vietnam War veterans and refugees from Cambodia and Laos. Going into the forests and picking the mushrooms is a form of recuperation for these people whose lives have been affected by war.

A number of members of the Smangus community joined us in the evening for Anna Tsing’s presentation and then gave their own presentations. Lahuy Icyeh introduced the Smangus community and explained how they developed their communal system of management. Then Kevan Berg, a Ph.D. student from Canada, who is currently doing fieldwork in Smangus introduced his research. His study is about landscape ethnoecology and seeks to understand the forest habitat classifications of the Atayal in Smangus. Finally the chief of Smangus, Icyeh Sulung, spoke to the group. He was very happy that the conference was being held in Smangus. He said that the development of ecotourism in Smangus was a way to share traditional knowledge about the environment and to educate people about the importance of environmental protection.

The skies were clear on Monday morning as the group set out on the hike to the Yaya Qparung, the grove of ancient cypress trees. The walk was punctuated by a number of stops along the way where Lahuy talked about the history of various sites. Although the walking trail is now lined by bamboo and forest, it was until a few decades ago being cultivated in some areas. Some evidence of this is still present.

At lunch before we left Lahuy pounded some millet for everyone to try. Accompanied by wild honey it tasted quite delicious. The photo above shows Lahuy displaying some of the different millet varieties that are grown in Smangus. Although millet is no longer a staple in their the diet the people in Smangus still grow some millet every year. One of the reasons for this is to preserve the different varieties. Currently they grow seven varieties and they plan to cultivate more in the future.

Smangus was a great location for the conference on the ethnoecology. There was a chance to learn from anthropologists studying ecologically related topics and also learn directly about traditional ecological knowledge in Smangus.

*For more photos see Kerim’s set of Smangus photos at flickr.

In the land of the Seediq

Over the weekend I joined a trip organised by the Research Centre for Austronesian Peoples at Providence University to Ren’ai Township in Nantou County (南投縣仁愛鄉). We visited several villages in the area to learn more about Seediq (賽德克族) culture. The main purpose of the trip was as an orientation for professors from several universities who are working on a project to improve science and maths education for indigenous children. They plan to include various elements of local culture and knowledge into the curriculum to make it more relevant and improve learning outcomes.

The first place was visited was Sadu (靜觀), which was at the end of the road at an altitude of 1,500 metres. In the church Pastor Kumu Tapas gave us a talk about various aspects of the local culture and history. Actually the people in this village identify as Toda, a sub-group of the Seediq. The other two sub-groups of the Seediq are the Tkdaya and Truku. The Seediq groups were classified as Atayal until the Truku gained official recognition 2004. Then the Seediq (Tkdaya) were officially recognised in 2008. However, the Toda haven’t gained recognition as a separate group.

On the way down from Sadu we stopped at a small village. This village contained a number of wooden buildings which date back to the Japanese era. Some of the scenes of the forthcoming movie Seediq Bale were shot here. This is the area where many of the historical events surrounding the Wushe Incident that the movie is based on took place. Following the Wushe Incident in 1930 the people from these villages were forced to move down by the Japanese.

Although we didn’t go Lushan (廬山) we stopped on the road to view it from above. Lushan was in the news when Typhoon Sinlaku hit in 2008. A hotel that toppled in the river and was captured on video attracted a lot of media attention. It might be a little difficult to make out in the photo above (click through to view the large size) but some of the buildings in the centre were partially buried and what you can see is actually just the second or third floor of the original building, now at ground level. This event cannot be described as a “natural disaster” though. The buildings are actually occupying the channel of the river. The “disaster” was man-made and an inevitable consequence of inappropriate development.

Later in the afternoon we reached Snuwil (春陽). On the road we met Labai, an elderly woman. She took us up to some fields where she cut some ramie (苧麻) which is the plant used to get the fibre for weaving. Then we got down to the church where she demonstrated much of the process involved in preparing the fibres and then weaving them. The first step is stripping the fibres from the raw plant. The next step was spinning the fibres. The steps of washing and dying weren’t shown, but once the fibres had been prepared Labai then showed how the threads are set up for the loom. This is shown in the picture above. After this the threads are transferred to the loom so the weaving work can begin.

Seeing the amount of work and knowledge that went into creating the final product gives one a new level of appreciation for this craft. After showing us the weaving Labai played the bamboo mouth harp for us. This is shown in the picture at the top of the post.

On Sunday morning Seling led us on a walk to the top of a nearby hill. Along the way he stopped to point out various plants in the forest and to talk about various aspects of hunting. He also showed us how he sets up several kinds of traps.

The photo above shows one of the traps in closer detail. On a hunting trip he would set dozens of traps like this. It is a good reason to be cautious about wandering off established trails in mountain areas! Seling also explained how hunters will tie the grass or make marks on the trees as a signal to others that they are in the area. There are also rules about the ownership of hunting grounds which reduce the risk of hunters “catching” each other.

Later on Sunday morning we joined the church service in Snuwil. The community is quite large with over 1,000 people so there was a sizable congregation. There were also a lot of young people who played an active role in the service. The service was conducted in both Seediq and Mandarin. It was great to experience this as it is a very important part of the community life.

中文版：賽德克巴萊的傳統領域

Visit to typhoon-affected areas of Kaohsiung County

Over the weekend I visited some of the areas affected by Typhoon Morakot in Kaohsiung County with a group of law students from Providence University. It is now more than eight months since the typhoon hit Taiwan. While there has been so much reported about the event in the media visiting these places provides a better understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.

The first part of the trip visited Liugui (六龜) and Baolai (寶來). In Liugui a Bunun elder related the history of his community. Following the typhoon they have been frustrated in their efforts to find a new place to relocate their village. Even though they have found a suitable place the government has repeatedly refused them permission to move there.

Dr Lin Yih-ren raised the important point that “moving the village” (遷村) is actually a normal part of the culture of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. Historically they also migrated to new locations within Taiwan. However, forced relocation by the government is something different and doesn’t respect the autonomy or integrity of indigenous communities.

A satellite photo in Liugui showed the extent of landslides. These occurred in both areas were people lived and also in other places were there were no people living and no agricultural or other activities. This indicates the problem is not just related to land use, but is closely linked to the geology of the area. The landscape is very fragile in nature.

Travelling between Liugui and Baolai was a chance to see some of the landslides. The roads are still under reconstruction and in some places there are temporary roads through the landslides. In some places the landslides are more than ten metres deep. The forces of nature that were unleashed were truly formidable.

On the second day of the trip we visited Tzu Chi’s Da Ai Village in Shanlin (杉林慈濟大愛村). The development of the village is still ongoing, but there are presently about 800 people living in the village. One good thing about the village is the use of surface drainage that doesn’t rely on large amounts of concrete. It is more natural and is a good example of ecological design. However, I didn’t see this reflected in the construction of the buildings or the layout of the site. The long grey lines of concrete boxes did not include any elements of passive solar design and there were no solar hot water systems installed on the roofs. The square layout and box-like designs don’t reflect the natural environment or necessarily promote the development of community. It seems more authoritarian in nature.

In two days there was only enough time to gain a preliminary understanding of the situation. It was a chance to hear some different voices at the grassroots level speaking about how they had been affected by the disaster. But ultimately in the short time there were a lot more questions than answers.

In the time immediately after the disaster people need basic assistance like food, shelter and medicine. But in the long-term they need to be self-reliant. This means government should not just think about how to provide basic assistance, but put long term plans in place that consider sustainability and security for local people. Dr Lin Yih-ren said that we should think about “people in the disaster area” (災區裡面的人民) instead of “disaster victims” (災民).

Local people need to be able to make decisions about the future, but they cannot do this while there is continuing uncertainty or if the government is unwilling to listen to their voices. It is important to make a proper assessment of local people’s needs and ensure their voices are heard and they play an active role in decision making. Local people have a lot of knowledge about the area and they are also the ones who have to live with the consequences of the decisions that are made.

Disaster also brings benefits such as construction projects, gravel and driftwood. But who actually benefits from this? This is a fundamental issue of social justice. What if infrastructure is built in a way that satisfies demands of contractors and corporations but is not appropriate or of poor quality? Who takes responsibility for this? If infrastructure needs to be rebuilt every time there is a big typhoon then corporations and contractors can profit from this, but the local people and the taxpayers are the ones who bear the burden.

While the central government is controlled by the KMT, the local government in Kaohsiung County is controlled by the DPP. The problems are not just related to political parties, but are linked to the nature of the political economy in Taiwan.

*Thanks to Dr Lin Yih-ren and Lin Shu-ya for inviting me to join this trip.

Post-script: After returning from the trip to Kaohsiung County I learnt of the landslide across the freeway in Keelung. It again highlights the fragile nature of Taiwan’s geology. While the immediate response to the disaster is important, in the long-term it is also necessary to seek answers about why this event occurred.

Smangus and the Atayal spirit

I visited Smangus this week to continue the research for my thesis. There were some significant changes in the village since my visit last year. The major one was the new classroom building near the main entrance to the village. Construction began in July last year and was completed in April. There are currently 12 students studying in the experimental branch of the Xinguang Primary School. The curriculum includes classes in Atayal language and traditional knowledge.

The building has a slate roof, rough sawn timber walls and a concrete foundation. Its combination of traditional materials and modern building techniques is in many ways a metaphor for the Smangus community which combines traditional Atayal culture with ideas from the modern world.

Although millet is no longer the main staple of the people in Smangus they still grow some millet each year. It was harvested recently and was being dried while I visited. Unfortunately it was too late for the peaches Smangus is famous for. The peach season had ended a couple of weeks earlier.

There was a group of young people on a trip organised through youthtravel.tw there at the time of my visit. I was able to join the activities with them. In the evening we watched the short film Msgamil: Once Upon a Time (泰雅千年) directed by Chen Wen-bin (陳文彬). This was the first film ever made in the Atayal language and tells the story of a village’s migration. It is beautifully produced and a good introduction to Atayal culture. You can learn more about it on the film’s website.

After the film there was a presentation about Atayal language and Smangus. I also saw this presentation again on the second night, although the content was a little different. On both nights they gave a lot of information about how the village of Smangus is organised. Smangus has a cooperative system where all members are paid an equal wage. There are other benefits too and students have their school fees paid and also receive an allowance. It draws on modern ideas such as the kibbutz in Israel, but also reflects the Atayal spirit of egalitarianism and teamwork.

On the second day I joined with a group to hike to the Yaya Qparung or group of ancient cypress trees. It was a beautiful morning. The altitude at Smangus means the temperatures at this time of the year are very pleasant and nothing like the extremes on the lowlands of Taiwan. The hike goes through both bamboo and forest. While there are some ups and downs there are no difficult or steep climbs. It is a 12 kilometre return journey and takes around five hours including time to appreciate the old trees.

The photo above shows the largest of the giant red cypress trees. It is 2,700 years old. The trees are in a hollow area that protects them from storms. The area has seven giant trees. Just like the ancient trees at Lala Shan they are an amazing sight.

The visit to Smangus gave me plenty more material for my thesis and even greater respect for the people there. There is so much that can be learnt from Smangus. It is in many ways a model for other indigenous communities in Taiwan and around the world.

Poster presentation at anthropology conference

“Indigenous Rights in Taiwan and the Smangus Case.” Poster presented at the Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA) and Taiwan Society for Anthropology and Ethnology (TSAE) conference at Academia Sinica, Taipei, 2-5 July 2009.

View this document on Scribd

New edition of Austronesian Taiwan

Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory was first published in 2000 and has been out of print for past few years. A new edition of the book was published to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Shung Ye Museum and the exhibition of artifacts from Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology.

The new edition was edited by Dr David Blundell, my thesis advisor at NCCU, with assistance from Chris Anderson and the people at SMC Books. I also played a role in the editing process.

Austronesian Taiwan is a wonderful collection of papers on the Austronesian speaking peoples of Formosa. It is a great reference for anyone who would like to learn more about the rich culture and history of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. The book gives many insights into the value of Austronesian languages and their associated cultures as  living heritage and as a cultural resource for Taiwan and the world.

The connections between Taiwan and the Austronesian dispersal through the Indian and Pacific Oceans are explored in Peter Bellwood’s chapter “Formosan Prehistory and Austronesian Dispersal”. A more contemporary perspective is found in Chris Anderson’s essay on the Amis Folklore Great Singers of Malan. It is a fascinating look at how the group formed in response to the unauthorised use of samples of Amis singers by Enigma in their hit song “Return to Innocence”. It shows the complex interactions that took place in the context of globalisation when the group from Malan performed on the international stage. The book also contains essays on linguistic studies, archaeology and looks at Japanese studies of Formosa.

The final chapter by David Blundell has been updated to include more information about developments of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI). Another reflection of the influence of the internet is the list of internet resources in an appendix.

If you are in Taiwan you may be able to purchase the book at SMC Books (南天書局) or the Shung Ye Museum.