Written by Choesang Scholer. Despite the pressures of external forces on Indigenous land and domain, Indigenous community members utilise art as a medium for political protest to amplify their concerns when their government fails to do so. This article explores the way in which identity-building expression appears through various forms of art.
Written by Eloise Phillips. This article examines the 2025 Taiwan–Guam cultural exchange, led by Taiwan’s National Museum of Prehistory, which wove song, canoe building, and shared practices into island diplomacy. Through workshops, performances, and informal encounters, the program connected Austronesian communities across the Pacific, highlighting resilience, mutual reclamation, and living traditions of cultural practice, language, and art.
Written by Ana Paloma Martínez Gómez. This article explores how Indigenous identity is portrayed on screen and how film supports cultural revitalisation and self-representation through a decolonial and gendered lens. As a new Taiwanese national identity emerges, the gap between official recognition and ongoing cultural marginalisation reveals the complex space Indigenous communities occupy.
Written by Aaron Su. This article discusses the crucial role of photography in consolidating a liberal multicultural order in Taiwan by obscuring dissent through visual depictions of harmonious Indigenous life. Drawing on fieldwork at Taiwan’s Cultural Health Stations, the author shows how photography portrays Indigenous satisfaction with current health policies, leaving little room for the everyday pressures, demands, and disputes.
Written by Janelle Umana-Limon. This article examines the rise of Indigenous resistance movements in Taiwan through the voices of Liglav Awu and Ayah Demaladas. It highlights how colonial powers, especially the Christian Church, have shaped and suppressed Indigenous cultures and women’s autonomy.
Written by Brian Hioe. Siraya civil society groups oppose a KMT proposal to create a “Pingpu Indigenous” category, arguing it undermines their full legal recognition mandated by a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling. The debate reflects ongoing struggles over identity, resources, and recognition amid shifting political dynamics and the KMT’s efforts to defund Indigenous institutions.
Written by Paulina G. Karim and Kuang-Chung Lee. This article discusses how the Taiwan Ecological Network integrates conservation and adaptation strategies to build resilient landscapes and seascapes in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The authors highlight community-based resilience assessments and adaptive co-management practices, demonstrating the role of Indigenous and local knowledge in safeguarding both ecological systems and community well-being in Taiwan’s socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes.
Written by Indigenous Youth Front. This article examines the 2024 amendment to the Organization Act of the Council of Indigenous Peoples. It places this controversial amendment within the broader context of the long-term marginalisation of Indigenous peoples in political participation and advocates for actions that uphold genuine Indigenous self-determination.
Written by the Taiwan Indigenous Youth Public Participation Association; translated by Yu-Chen Chuang. This article highlights the involvement of Indigenous rights advocacy groups in the Bluebird Movement. They call for Indigenous legislators to prioritise their communities’ rights, foster cross-party collaboration, and address the electoral system’s challenges that hinder effective Indigenous political participation.
Written by Yi-Yang Cheng, Ssu-Chieh Jessica Fan and Susan Hou. Centring on Indigeneity in Taiwan, the interdisciplinary roundtable “Indigenous Taiwan through Critical Lenses: Comparative and Place-Based Perspectives” conceptualized Taiwan as a grounding point for multiple geographical perspectives. Instead of positioning Taiwan as a boundary object between the East and the West, it prompted a fresh envisioning and repositioning of Taiwan as a liminal space of unbounded and interconnected possibilities. Put differently, the roundtable discussions explored alternative ways of positioning Taiwan in/and the world, including perspectives which might have previously been marginalized or eluded consideration.
Written by Charlie Smith. Last September, when the band Kanatal walked onto the stage in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, it marked a milestone. This was the culmination of the first Canadian tour by a group of Indigenous musicians from Taiwan. After performing in several Canadian cities, the four members—guitarist Masaw Ali, keyboard player Suana Emuy Cilangasay, singer Abus Tanapima, and drummer Vangacu Kalevuwan—were eager to impress a crowd that had gathered for the signature event of TAIWANfest Vancouver.
Taiwan Insight 