Transcript Cultural and Ethnic Structure of Taiwan

Cultural and Ethnic
Structure of Taiwan
by Prof. David Blundell
Associate Professor, Department of English
National Chengchi University, R.O.C.
Unless noted, the course materials are licensed under Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Taiwan
(CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)
Chengchi University David Blundell
Anthropology is my orientation for understanding
cultures of South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia,
Asia-Pacific, and Oceania in terms of history,
religion, archaeology, ethnology, visual
communication, symbolic anthropology, language
and culture mapping, aesthetics, tourism,
anthropology of religion, and performing arts.
I teach as a trained anthropologist at National
Chengchi University featuring courses on Taiwan
studies, languages and cultures, with selections.
Applied Anthropology 〈應用人類學〉
Anthropology of Religion 〈人類學的宗教研究〉
Asia Pacific Ethnography and Archaeology〈亞太地區民族誌與考古學〉
Cultural and Ethnic Structure of Taiwan 〈台灣的文化與族群結構〉
Endangered Languages and Multilingual Education 〈瀕危語言與多語教育〉
International Development and Films 〈國際發展與影片〉
Pacific as a Cultural Area 〈太平洋文化區〉
Tourism Anthropology〈觀光與人類學 〉
My paper explores the concept of Taiwan and
Austronesia as “island connectivity” in the arena of
Asia-Pacific – positioning Formosan languages and
cultures as valuable tools in providing cultural,
political, and economic associations across its
geographic width and breadth for peaceful
development.
Keywords: Asia-Pacific, Taiwan, Austronesia,
Formosan languages, heritage connections,
linkages of peoples
Taiwan from Neolithic prehistory has ushered in the
Austronesian languages that became about 1,200 in number
spreading across ocean settlements.
For most of the region of Island Southeast Asia and Oceania,
the Austronesian speaking people have prevailed for several
thousand years, extending from archaic origins, with examples
found in Formosan languages of Taiwan, through the MalayoPolynesian languages of the islands of Philippines, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Micronesia, Melanesia to Polynesia, and across the
Indian Ocean to Madagascar.
These languages are valuable, regardless of their extent,
influence, or number of speakers, as part of our basic richness
of humanity – a far-reaching legacy of communication and
worldviews.
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Dutch Fort Zeelandia
1623-1662
Formosa
WiKi Koika
In the 17th century world,
the Dutch created the
first global pharmacy
and a forum for
the exchange content.
Requirements

Participation is required. Lectures will be given
with multimedia aids such as maps and slides. In
addition to the classroom at the College of Social
Sciences, National Chengchi University, fieldtrips
are scheduled to museums and places relevant to
the course.
Syllabus
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(1) Introduction to the Communities of Taiwan
(2) Prehistory: Paleolithic and Neolithic
Mid-term exam
(3) Metal Age and Early History and the Coming of
Europeans and Han Chinese
(4) the Ethnographic and Historic Present
First Section: Introduction to the
Communities of Taiwan-1

This section reviews current thoughts on the
cultural and ethnic development of Taiwan.
Lessons include a temporal sequential point of
departure from a prehistory that increasingly
important in the present for determining identity in
Taiwan.
First Section: Introduction to the
Communities of Taiwan-2

Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Metal Age periods are
studied according to archaeological surveys of the
many complex sites in the context of the natural
environment. The cultural landscape changes
again dramatically with the early historical period
from the twelfth to seventeenth centuries. Source
information could then be drawn from written
accounts up to the present
Second Section: Prehistory─ Paleolithic
and Neolithic
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Prof. Li Kwang-chou announced in the 1980s that
Taiwan was an archaeological laboratory for
understanding the past and sequences of cultural
development. This ranges from the Paleolithic Age
approximately 30,000 to 6,000 B.P. and Neolithic Age
from 6,000 to 2,000 B.P. to the Metal Age since 2,000
B.P. Taiwan has been designated as living laboratory
for ethnicity, culture, and language transformation and
change among its Austronesian-speakers.
Third Section: Early History and the
Coming of Europeans and Han Chinese
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Formosan speakers traditionally had an oral tradition.
Since about the time of the first settlements of the
Chinese and the Dutch, written records were kept
transforming Taiwan into an age of history. Yet,
material cultural evidence primarily holds sway in the
vast collections and archives reaching back to the past.
Fourth Section: The Ethnographic and
Historic Present-1
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Finally the course turns to the development of ethnic
identities among the peoples of Taiwan. Anthropology
and ethnographic film, cross-cultural aesthetics, and
GIS linguistic mapping are tools for the course.
Fourth Section: The Ethnographic and
Historic Present-2
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The cultural relatedness to the wider region of the Western
Pacific and Southeast Asia are the up coming perspectives
in positioning theories of heritage. In the Taiwan cultural
sites are abundant. Many of these sites have been
surveyed and documented for location, research,
conservation, and protection. These cultural sites will serve
as a reference for understanding the cultural and ethnic
structure of Taiwan in the ethnographic and historic
present.
Copyright Declaration
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Licensing
Author/ Source
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Chengchi University David Blundell
Photographed in National Museum of
Vietnam
Chengchi University David Blundell
Photographed in National Museum of
Vietnam
Chengchi University David Blundell
Photographed in National Museum of
Vietnam
Copyright Declaration
Work
Licensing
Author/ Source
Chengchi University David Blundell
Photographed in National Museum of
Vietnam
Chengchi University David Blundell
Photographed in National Museum of
Vietnam
Chengchi University David Blundell
Photographed in National Museum of
Vietnam
Chengchi University David Blundell
WiKi Koika
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Z
eelandia_model.JPG
2011/7/11 visited
Wiki Diego Ruschel
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F
ort_Zeelandia03.jpg
2011/7/11 visited