IV. Spiritual Territory
3. Spiritual Structures and Change
There are several man-made structures that can still be found on the landscape of the Taromak that are important elements of their belief system. But due to the influences of world religions, many of these structures have taken on different meanings. The two structures briefly touched on here are the ancestral spirit house, and the guardian stone (Dake’akala).
The ancestral spirit house sits next to the chief, Nama I’s house and was
traditionally an important part of every community. As the Taromak moved from ‘Irilra to ‘Olravinga, they took the spirit house with them, but it burned down in the 1969 fire.
After that the chief built a new one, under the guidance of a shaman (Siya’elreng), where the fire had not reached. Nama I describes this as a lonely affair because most of the other villagers are not interested in traditional beliefs due to church pressure. This was also a difficult task for the Nama I because the forestry bureau did not allow wood collection from the Taromak’s territory, so he had to collect enough driftwood for construction. The ancestral spirit house is used primarily for prayer ceremonies, during festivals such as the millet harvest or when the community is facing trying times. The house has two doors one for men, and another for the female Siya’elreng. This house belongs to the community but Nama I again points out that it has lost it’s traditional meaning because most people attend churches now, and he worries that after he is gone, no one will look after it anymore.
“It’s just a memorial now, everyone believes in God the same way now. But actually every group of people communicates with God in different ways, some use incense, some use pork, etc. but we are a minority…now it is probably just me who does this. I just want to preserve this as a commemoration to our ancestors”.
Following encouragement of a professor involved in indigenous and eco-tourism development in Taitung county, another ancestral spirit house was built in Kabaliwa, which Momo B describes as a product of cultural tourism development. The ancestral spirit house was traditionally an active element of the spirit-human relationship, which
governed the well being of the Taromak community. Due to the homogenizing influence of world religions the house has become a place of memories for some locals and cultural tourism for others. Although still an active element of the Taromak’s nature-culture collective, its role has changed and has perhaps drawn away from its involvement in the maintenance of the collective.
The guardian stone, called Dake’akala is a place of prayer and protection for the village and it’s members. Originally the main Dake’akala was positioned at the entrance to Kabaliwa near the enemy head rack and was used for prayers before people left the village. This would provide protection along the journey from enemy headhunters or accidents, and was used to ask for good fortune on a hunt. While asking for protection and good luck one must give betel nut, wine, cigarettes or meat as an offering. Every village had a Dake’akala also for protection from enemy invasion, and if outsiders entered the village they would first ask permission from the Dake’akala. After the stone structure fell down in Kabaliwa and the Taromak moved to ‘Irilra, they constructed another. But after they were Christianized and moved to ‘Olravinga a new Dake’akala was not built until the 1990’s when Nama E was the village leader. He explains that when he first began to put it up at the entrance to the village there was some conflict with village church members. But Nama E explains that the reason for the lack of destruction in Da-Nan village during recent powerful typhoons is due to their reconstruction of the Dake’akala. Recently another Dake’akala (See Figure 2.2.4) has been built along the road to Kabaliwa where a Japanese police checkpoint was once located. Due to changing belief systems, the Dake’akala has lost much of its active power to protect and provide.
Although some Taromak people still believe in its traditional power, it has become a conflict point with the churches, as well as a starting point for cultural revival.
As a place and non-human thing in the Taromak’s landscape it continues to embody some remnants of it’s traditional meaning, which tied it to the traditional
territory (for example, protection from enemy tribes, success in the hunt), while taking on new meanings that include traditional belief and church conflict, traditional cultural revival, cultural tourism, etc., thus changing its connections to other actors in the extended network. Therefore this spiritual entity of the landscape is not only inscribed with ‘traditional’ meanings and contemporary ‘social’ change, it also continues to
actively influence the Taromak landscape by stimulating conflicts between the traditional and contemporary belief and economic systems, and motivating local identity. The Dake’akala has transformed from a powerful spiritual entity that managed relations between ancestral spirits, humans, and other landscape entities, to a stone de-activated by contemporary belief systems, and now to an intermediary between ancestral traditions and contemporary religions and global tourist markets.
The spiritual territory of the Taromak includes an array of divine and physical elements that were once key mediators between the landscape and the human community.
These active mediators were focused in specific places in the landscape where the importance of proper relations with the land was concentrated. The Taromak’s prayers emphasized their familial relationship to the spirits of the landscape, which maintained reciprocal relations and ensured the prosperity of the nature-culture collective. In
Figure 11 New Dake’akala at Kabaliwa (Photos: Caleb
Portnoy
addition these prayers and the associated appropriate behaviors prevented predatory behaviors that were common between enemy tribes who had no familial relation. This spiritual relationship with the landscape could not be confined to either animistic or totemistic systems (Descola 1996:82-102), because it would be a mistake to view these relations, which created and maintained their socio-cultural system, as solely symbolic.
Totem animals such as the hundred pace viper are not only symbols of the Taromak’s ancestrally-based relation to the landscape, but because the viper is such a dangerous agent of the environment, the Taromak’s ancestral ties to it ensured a mutually beneficial relationship. The traditional structures that once were epicenters for the maintenance of relations between the Taromak and their landscape have now been transformed with changing belief systems. On top of their traditional agencies they also activate conflicts between traditional beliefs and the church, the use of ‘culture’ for tourism development, and memories of ancestral life-ways. The changing roles of these structures are evidence of a shifting network that intertwines human, non-human and divine entities. This shift hints at a move away from relations with the landscape, and towards relations between other human groups, global markets, and religious organizations.
V. THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Because the effects of Japan’s imperial control of Taiwan and the Republic of China’s Nationalist Party (KMT) take over in 1949 were so strong, these political actors and events are viewed by locals as powerful elements of the landscape that continue to be a large part of their nature-culture collective. This section will briefly introduce local’s views of Japanese and KMT influence on their territory.
In general, locals view the Japanese as an imperialist power, which gave rise to both positive and negative results. The Japanese first entered Taromak in the mid 1910’s and established a police checkpoint and small school in Kabaliwa after 1914. By the early 1920’s the Japanese had begun to move the Taromak, either by force or attraction into the lower foothills of their territory at ‘Irilra and Doo. Some locals view this move as forced and mention that their elders wanted to stay in the mountains closer to their traditional resource base. Other negative views of Japanese control is based on their sole goal being to safeguard and promote the Emperor of Japan, thus ignoring the needs, and
taking advantage of the Taromak. Informants often mention that the Japanese forced the Taromak into fighting WWII, stole the valuable Cyprus (Hinoki) trees from their land, set up sugar plantations for their profit only, and set up a hydroelectric plant that only
supplied electricity to the Imperial government offices in Taitung80. The legal code set up by the Japanese was also very strict, and violations would be met by severe physical punishment. Even movement throughout the landscape was restricted by Japanese police who registered all individuals leaving the village.
The strict enforcement of laws by the Japanese is also sometimes viewed as a positive feature of the imperial Japanese era in that at that time life was safe from thieves or other mischief because of fear of repercussions. Other positive views include
improved lifestyles compared to the pre-colonial era, development of schools,
agricultural education (which was pushed on the Taromak for grain production to supply troops), and the reserve of some common use land in Ganalibuke. Around 1940 the Taromak were moved from ‘Irilra to their present location at ‘Olravinga, and some of the land around ‘Irilra was protected as a watershed for the water source that fed Taitung City. This watershed continues to be a point of contention because the Taromak gain no benefits for protecting that land, which keeps Taitung city’s water clean.
After WWII ended and the Chinese Nationalists took control of Taiwan in 1949, the KMT continued many of the Japanese approaches to indigenous governance. Again the wealth of their land was taken, especially timber, which had been all claimed as government property. The traditional territory of the Taromak was separated in the 1950’s into reservation land, which is intended for indigenous use, and forestry bureau land81, which was managed by the central government’s forestry bureau for timber industry. This reduced the Taromak’s landscape from about 28,000 hectares82 to only 1,413 hectares (Xie 1965:5), and was further reduced due to the use of the reservation by the national sugar cane company, and because it was protected as a water source for Taitung city. The majority of the Taromak’s traditional territory, which is demarcated as forestry bureau land is protected by laws based on protectionist ideology (Palsson 1996)
80The Taromak did not receive electricity from the hydroelectric plant in their river until the 1960’s.
81Discussed in Chapter III.
82According to Nama I, chief of the Taromak.
that restricts the Taromak from continuing their cultural relations with their landscape, and directly influences the well-being of their collective. During the 1950’s the
reservation land and the common use land established by the Japanese was measured and privatized by the KMT, which led to many conflicts between the state conception of land ownership, and the traditional Taromak system. In addition, problems of reservation land being illegally sold to Airang also began to sprout up. During the martial law period if Taiwan (1948-1987) the KMT military was especially disruptive to the Taromak, as informants remember in the late 1950’s the military officers would often come with their soldiers to cut large trees and bamboo from their land to make building materials, take their millet, corn and other crops, and even run over people with their trucks. During my interviews, the KMT is either described negatively as a colonialist empire, not
commented on, or recent improvements are mentioned83. According to Nama D, things did not improve until martial law ended, and the DPP came to power and introduced many of the subsidies for the indigenous peoples of Taiwan that exist today.
Local views of the Japanese imperialists, and Chinese colonialists have both negative and positive sides. Overall the changes are seen as having improved the lives of the Taromak in some ways, but also cost them their landscape, which in turn cost them their culture. The land policies implemented during these times critically transformed the Taromak’s relationship with their landscape, especially by drawing new borders,
drastically reducing their territory and creating new institutions of land use. These changes coupled with changes to the belief system of the Taromak and rapid introduction into the market economy had direct influences on their socio-cultural system. All of these changes and conflicts are not only ‘inscribed’ onto the landscape in places such as at the hydroelectric plant, but continue to act as elements of the landscape that produce conflict as well as stimulate the cultural revival movement84.
83It is interesting to note that according to locals, a majority of indigenous people in Taiwan consistently vote for the KMT party during elections. Some explanations I have encountered for this include,
1. Originally there was no other party to vote for, so it became habit.
2. Originally in order to get a good job as a teacher or any other government position one had to be a KMT party member.
3. Mandatory military service was easier if one became a KMT party member.
4. Pre-KMT distrust of other the Han Chinese groups (Airang) that make up the DPP party.
5. The KMT is wealthier and thus more able to buy votes.
84See Chapter IV.
VI. ASSEMBLING THE LANDSCAPE OF TAROMAK
Bruno Latour’s (1986, 1993, 2005) actor-network concept has been used here to create an analytical model of the Taromak’s landscape, which interconnects the human, non-human and divine entities that compose this nature-culture network. This thesis argues that the relations between the human, non-human and divine elements of the landscape are the foundations of the cultural traditions and social structures of Taromak.
Their physical origins, the legitimization of their social structure, and their precedence (Fox 1995B: 217; McWilliam 2006; Kahn 1996) are all founded on the nature of their connection to the landscape. Migrations are described as a type of topostory or topogeny (Fox 1997:91), which explain and geographically situate (Pannell 1997:65) the
Taromak’s origins, their traditionally appropriate place in the landscape, and recent changes that have transformed their socio-cultural system. The internal boundaries of their landscape divide the shared territory (Boulan-Smit 2006), while external boundaries are described as fixed places of conflict and harmony with neighboring tribes that
continue to demonstrate the potential of the Taromak as a landholding force.
Relations with neighbors can be separated into conflicting and reciprocal categories, somewhat similar to Descola’s (1996) predatory and reciprocal modes of relation to the environment. Reciprocal relations include the sharing of food, resources, land, and marriage bonds, while conflicting relations include territorial conflicts and headhunts. It is important to note that headhunting was not a purely predatory act, in that after the head was taken, its spirit was reciprocated to in ceremonial acts. Although reciprocal relations between tribes may have been increased due to shared world religions, conflicting relations have also been increased during Japanese imperialism, and after the introduction of other global forces (such as market relations with the Han Chinese, and occupation by the KMT) that brought different conceptions of the landscape (Bender 1993C; Leach 2006; Carrier 2004; Tule 2006). Overall, Taromak’s ethnic relations are framed by their landscape, and these relations still make up an active part of their nature-culture collective.
While landscape categorization systems in Taromak are diverse and complex, place names make up a fixed and highly informative system of classifying the territory.
This collection of places and their associated meanings (See appendix 2) intertwine traditional knowledge (Berkes 1999), spiritual characteristics, resource information, topography, land rights, historical memories (Basso 1996), topostories (Pannell 1997), conflicts with other groups (Morphy 1993, Myers 1986), and landscape changes. These place names also emphasize and reinforce the creation, as in Taidrengelr, and
continuation (Sakai 1997), as in Kabaliwa, of culturally specific relations to the landscape.
The power of these places is not their inscription onto the landscape as symbols portraying culturally specific ideas of nature and society (Hu 2008; Huang 1995), but their active influence on the nature-culture collective and the socio-cultural systems of the Taromak.
Spiritual aspects of the landscape embody the ancestors to which the Taromak must maintain reciprocal relations (Grimes 1997). The successfully maintained relationship with the spiritual landscape ensures the well-being of the nature-culture collective. Descola’s (1996:82-102) classification system of animistic or totemistic modes of identification, and reciprocal or predatory relations with the environment is difficult to use in the Taromak’s case because their landscape, as well as their neighbor relations are characterized by a network of ancestrally-based (Tuan 1977:157)
connections that explain the collective and it’s outcomes, and maintain a dynamic balance between predation and reciprocation. The Taromak do not simply project their social lives onto an abstract environment in order to guide their behaviors (Hornborg 2003:105), rather, their social lives are made up of relations with their landscape, which in itself is a hybrid entity. Although the spirit house and guardian stones continue to gather (Casey 1996; Tilley 2006) the traditional relations between humans, non-humans, and divine entities, they have also recently begun gathering new meanings that embody religious changes, global tourism markets, and cultural memories.
The effects of colonial era and contemporary changes continue to be part of the landscape, which produce conflicts and stimulate the cultural revival movement. It is important to note that the conflicts that have arisen out of the colonial and post-colonial era are often framed as issues related to land and resources (Hirsch 2006), to which the Taromak see themselves as being the rightful managers due to their precedence. This interconnects all of the above elements of the landscape, from the origins of the Rukai
tribe to contemporary conflicts over land, in a network of natural, social, contemporary, past, local, and global phenomenon, which all take place in the landscape of Taromak.
Therefore, the landscape of Taromak can be assembled as a network of interrelationships between active human, non-human and divine entities that intertwine and extend the landscape. Chapter III will delve deeper into how this network of actors creates and sustains locally specific socio-cultural characteristics and institutions.
CHAPTER THREE The Active Landscape
In the previous chapter, the composition of the cultural landscape of the Taromak Rukai was described, and the interconnections between its human, non-human and divine elements were introduced. This chapter will delve deeper into the way that the landscape organized itself as a network of actors in mutual relationships, and how that network has changed dramatically due to a range of political, economic, religious, and other
influences. It will be argued that according to the Taromak, the ability of the
interconnections between the human, non-human and divine components of the landscape to interact maintained their socio-cultural stability and survival as a community.
The following sections will discuss how the landscape acted as a land tenure institution in agricultural and hunting territories, and how it had primarily inclusive characteristics (Carrier 1998:86-92), that bonded people, food sources and spirits through sharing relations and ceremonial activities. Traditional agricultural crops will be shown to play an important role in the connections between people and spirits, while hunting
The following sections will discuss how the landscape acted as a land tenure institution in agricultural and hunting territories, and how it had primarily inclusive characteristics (Carrier 1998:86-92), that bonded people, food sources and spirits through sharing relations and ceremonial activities. Traditional agricultural crops will be shown to play an important role in the connections between people and spirits, while hunting