Background

In light of the challenges faced by the Wulai Atayal and with a goal of rebalancing economic and social agendas, an action research team consisting of faculty, researchers, staff, and students was put together at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

Originally inspired by successful cases of alternative development strategies, the group seeks to undertake research that aims to generate scholarly knowledge and improve social action at the same time, something that could be ideally suited to matching the needs of the disempowered population with expert knowledge from academia. It is in this vein that the Lokah Project was begun.

The title of the Initiative, “Lokah”, was chosen for its welcoming meaning. Somewhat similar to the Hawaiian term “Aloha”, the greeting contains a basic meaning of

welcoming, compassion, and kindness, as well as a call for internal strength.⁸ The

group’s goal was to perform action research to help the local people through an ambitious

“craft renaissance” program. Designed from the start as a way to combine ethno-tourism, environmental awareness, social justice, education, and strengthening of traditional values and institutions, the program aims to promote traditional Atayal hand weaving businesses. Woven products are a sought-after tourism product, and the weavers already had an organizational base in the form of a weaving association.

However, the research team ran into two sets of difficulties in bringing local people onboard. First, the area had long been exposed to well-meaning but ultimately ineffective development projects that in the end led locals to place little value on further cooperation, as financial support for projects was often withdrawn without notice or transparency, and without concrete results being achieved. Second, residents often rushed to compete for

8 Considering the linguistic and genetic connections between Taiwanese Indigenous peoples this term could also be seen as a call to solidarity among a wide group of South East Asian indigenous peoples. The wider regional connections between these and other indigenous peoples has been discussed by Tony Coolidge (Hose, 2010).

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and capture as many funds as possible in the short time they were expected to be available. Neither choice is irrational; local actors are more concerned with making a living than being targets of academic research project, yet prior failures to create fair and ongoing reciprocal interactions led to a lack participation in further projects.

In order to prevent problems with follow-through due to lack of funding, the researchers approached Wulai only after having secured funds. However, aligning interests in the

“craft renaissance” was severely hampered by the existing lack of trust and reciprocity between the locals and the outside researchers. When approached by the researcher with funds in hand, a local leader gave a prompt and blunt rejection that not only stopped the plan in its tracks, but also damaged the researchers’ trust and morale. Faced with these problems, a reevaluation and recalculation was necessary. Two events then occurred that helped change the community’s impression of the researchers.

In what could be considered a fortuitous turn of events for the team, an urban rezoning plan was being proposed at about the same time as they were attempting to cultivate local cooperation. Land zoning regulations were made to restrict property development in protected areas in order to protect the nearby Feitsui reservoir and watershed that supplies the Taipei area’s eight million inhabitants with fresh water. This issue hit a nerve in the area, for several reasons. First, the indigenous Atayal were being prevented from developing traditional lands that had been held for generations. These regulations were strictly enforced, to the extent of an arrest being made over an extension to a bathroom facility on a local man’s farm. These strict limitations and enforcement tapped into a deep resentment stemming from a long colonial history. The Atayal also felt their cultural traditions and knowledge were being ignored, as these regulations prevented them from developing organic and eco-friendly farming using traditional knowledge that had maintained ecological sustainability for generations.⁹ Finally, the plan ignored local indigenous concerns about participation and did not allow access to the decision-making process.

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One story illustrating this situation was brought up by a team member who is also from the community. In interview 4, Yueh-po Huang related the experience of a local man whose son had recently been married and wished to build a toilet to accommodate the needs of his growing family. However, because according to New Taipei City zoning regulations his land was located within a protected zone, when the authorities discovered his renovations he was arrested and brought to the local police station. Securing the man’s release was possible through the intervention of a local councilor. The regulations became a focal point of local attention according to Huang, who said, “That regulation is a kind of magnet for the local people who are trying to set up their business, including refurbishing their house.”

The academic team identified this situation as a strategic point of entry and moved to help locals navigate the high-profile media and political landscape as well as provide expert scientific data to bolster their claims during protests. The assistance provided to the community by the research team in environmental, economic, and political expertise was valued by locals, and was reported by Dr. Huang as the most important factor in increasing community trust in the researchers, as well as an increased the willingness to cooperate with researchers in other areas.

Another important event that helped shape the relationship between researchers and the community was the arrival of typhoon Soudelor in August 2015. The third most powerful tropical storm of that year worldwide caused heavy damage, with mudslides cutting the road to Wulai and preventing some residents from returning home for weeks. According to principal investigator of the Lokah Initiative, Dr. Ching-Ping Tang, researchers and university volunteers made daily trips to provide support and assistance to the evacuated residents. This post disaster assistance during this difficult time was greatly appreciated and was reported to be a source of trust building that would facilitate future activities.

Throughout the project, the team also engaged in several other lower profile yet highly

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salient mini-projects such as after-school child care, seniors’ services and post-typhoon relief. Another event that while less politically high profile was nonetheless related to the team’s community presence was related to their own need for infrastructure. One of the challenges faced by the team in gaining a foothold in the community was finding a base of operations. Suitable infrastructure was not immediately found, and this limited the team’s visibility. Several months after the project’s beginning, an unused building was found in the vicinity of the public school. The team was able to secure use of the property through local connections for use as a meeting area and center for community outreach. A group of volunteers from the city was brought in to maintain and renovate the property.

The finishing touch was the painting of a mural done by a local artist making the

building, by then referred to as the “old house”, a visible symbol of the team’s presence.

The “old house” was then used for several purposes. It was used as a kind of base of operations for formal monthly team meetings, and other irregularly scheduled meetings.

It was also used for informal get-togethers, and for community outreach activities such as senior care, and cultural programs such as the sharing of identity based stories about growing up in the community, a program to create questions to present to local elders, and building links between schools and the tribe.

The team’s sustained efforts after identifying and assisting with highly salient issues and creating a visible presences allowed them to be seen not as short term transient actors, but instead as part of a concerned in-group. The resulting increase in trust, increased the team’s capacity to approach the community with their “craft renaissance” program. The team first helped organize workshops for expert weavers to exchange their knowledge, then organized domestic exhibitions to increase the exposure of the weaving products, then extended internationally to attend exhibitions Japan and the United States. One financially profitable result was that the weaver’s association was able to work collectively to fulfill corporate souvenir contracts.

The formally funded Lokah project ended in 2016; however, many of the secondary

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between the scholars and the community. Both through ongoing connection between the University and the community and through ongoing informal relationships, the Lokah project continues to this day. There are also hopes for projects to be continued in the future, and for new projects to be started.