Written by Sayang Anang.
Image courtesy of Sayang Anang.
In November 2023, I had the honour of being invited as a member of the Taiwanese Indigenous delegation to the Kuroshio Odyssey exhibition hosted by the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, Seattle. Before embarking on this journey, I hadn’t given much thought but to grasp the rare opportunity to share the traditional cultural practices of my tribe—the Lidaw tribe of the Amis in Hualien, Taiwan—with my foreign friends. Excitement filled me as this was my first time setting foot on American soil, and I relished every exchange I made. The thrill stemmed from meeting new people, exploring the UW campus’s rich history, or appreciating the proximity of Burke Museum’s collections. With each encounter, we absorbed different nutrients, stimulated more reflection and feedback, and made this trip a fruitful one.
Bonding Over Heritage in Seattle
In Seattle, USA, we were able to bond with fellow Taiwanese and Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples over a shared sense of national identity. Our interaction grew even closer as we savoured the traditional Taiwanese dish, “Rice wine chicken soup.” We discussed the recent challenges faced by Taiwan’s Indigenous communities, fostering a deeper understanding of each other’s experiences. Margaret Tu, one of the curators, stated in our conversation that her great-great-grandfather was the headman of my tribe, and he received significant support from the Japanese government during the colonial period. From the photos and conversations shared by Margaret Tu, I gained a glimpse of the immense authority held by tribal headmen during that era. This authority indicated the Japanese colonial government’s desire to dismantle the customary tribal political structure and institute a hierarchical organisational system led by the mandated headman. This change aimed to facilitate management and establish dominance over the tribe.
However, the position of “headman” among urban Amis tribes in Taiwan no longer holds the same traditional high status as in the past. Instead, it is now more influenced by the dynamics of modern politics or legislators elected by popular vote. This change has led to a disregard for the customary cultural practices of the tribes, with leaders seemly more intent on fortifying their own position in the social hierarchy. This has become a widespread issue that Amis tribes confront today.
This connection between me and Margaret has spurred a commitment: upon my return to Taiwan, I plan to go back to my tribe and aid in uncovering the history of Margaret’s family. We hope to find out pieces of the tribe’s history that may have been lost. By doing so, we hope to inspire more Indigenous youth to engage in their own tribal historical records and cultural heritage so that more tribal history and culture can be passed on for generations to come.
Artefacts as Living Histories: Connecting People and Heritage
This visit to Seattle offered a unique engagement with cultural heritage. It was highlighted by the conversations with Polly Olsen, the Burke Museum’s ethnic representative, about the life and culture of the Suquamish Tribe in Washington, D.C.. Additionally, I was also honoured to have Holly Barker, the Burke Museum’s Oceania curator, guiding us through the museum’s collection of artefacts from Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples. I was very surprised and touched by the curator’s decision to allow us—people from the same region or tribe where the artefacts belonged to—to examine the artefacts closely. In the past, we usually only knew these costumes or tangible cultural heritage through books or online pictures, but this time, we had the opportunity to touch these precious artifacts up close. This experience brought me indescribable emotion and a clearer sense of the delicate and historical beauty of these artefacts.
Reflecting on this experience, my thoughts turned to the boat used for the Parunang (the boat ritual) in the Lidaw Tribe. The Parunang is held every seven years in conjunction with the coming-of-age ceremony. The boat for the Parunang is usually kept in an open common area with an unsatisfactory preservation condition. This lack of preservation expertise and inadequate storage facilities highlights the problems of preserving cultural heritage in Taiwan’s Indigenous communities.
During the workshop at the East Asian Library, I displayed traditional clothing that had been preserved in my home for nearly 80 years. I opened the event with a symbolic proclamation ceremony in my own language, telling the people who had lived on the land where we came from, the purpose of our visit, and the expectation that the event would go smoothly and peacefully. This is a way of presenting traditional rituals, symbolising the presence of our ancestors through traditional costumes, and sharing our culture with each other.
When recording and preservation of tangible cultural heritage, it is always the “people” who interpret their history, culture, and the significance of their existence. These artefacts clearly show their intertwined histories with human beings and their relevance in different eras. These artefacts are “living” testimonies that need to be passed on generation by generation. Through the interpretations by people, these artefacts can travel to all corners of the world and let more people understand the significance they represent in the waves of history. Therefore, whether the artefacts are in the museum’s collection or kept at home, it is our collective aspiration to share these pieces more broadly. Through human interpretation, we give a new life to these artefacts and continue to prompt more opportunities for display, in line with the concept of a “living” museum.
Taiwan’s Cultural Diversity and Indigenous Resilience
Throughout the long history of colonisation, Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples have continuously tried to survive in different ways, through resistance, commitment, collaboration, or retreat, to maintain our presence on our ancestral lands in Taiwan. Although we have separated from the so-called “traditional” ways of life of decades ago and are now practising a culture transformed by the long colonial history, our resolve remains unshaken. Our traditional cultures bear profound significance for us as Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples, and we hope to enrich this evolving “traditional” culture with even greater meaning. We seek to let this special and precious “difference” showcase the diversity of Taiwan’s Indigenous history and culture. We continue to uncover history and learn our own culture and language, engaging more Indigenous youth with the precious heritage of their own ethnic cultures. By continuing to carry on the tradition, we aim to extend the legacy of Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples on this land. We also hope to deepen the connection between the two regions, Taiwan and Seattle, and collaborate on initiatives related to the development of cultural heritage.
Looking Forward: Fostering Cultural Exchange and Collaboration
Looking back on this long journey, I am very grateful to the Hualien County Government’s Indigenous Peoples Department, UW-TSP Art and Culture Director Ellen, Burke Museum’s Oceania Curator Holly Barker, Ethnic Group Representative Polly Olsen, University of Washington’s East Asian Librarian Hyokyoung Yi, and the two hard-working curators, Jiun-Yu Liu and Margaret Tu. Jiun-Yu Liu and Margaret Tu’s dedicated support and translations made it possible for our Indigenous communities from Hualien, Taiwan, to engage with the “Kuroshio Odyssey: Ocean Memory, Culture, and Landscape” exhibition. The exhibition showcased the richness of the Austronesian issues. It provided a window into the cultural heritage of Hualien’s Indigenous peoples, such as the Austronesian connections, the cultural heritage of the Cikasoan, the Lidaw Tribe’s boat rituals and other cultural assets.
This showcase highlighted the diverse and profound cultural heritage of Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples. We also expected that such exchanges would lead to more opportunities for cooperation between the Hualien Archaeological Museum and the Burke Museum in Seattle. We also hope that this collaboration will pave the way for exhibiting the Burke Museum’s collections of Taiwan’s Indigenous artefacts back to the land in Taiwan. This will lead to the establishment of Inter-museum exchanges on cultural heritage and more professional training programs for Taiwan’s Indigenous cultural heritage.
This article was published as part of a special issue on Kuroshio Odyssey Part II: Insights from Indigenous Collaborators.
Taiwan Insight 