The Construction Of Ethnic Groups In Historical Changes:Case Studies Of Kavalan And Sakizaya In East Taiwan

This thesis takes the construction process of two Taiwanese aboriginal "ethnic groups" as research object.It attempts to examine how the Kavalan and Sakizaya are"ethnicalized" as Taiwanese aboriginal "ethnic groups" in the process of historical changes from the perspective of contextual constructionism,which emphasizes the historical process.The study content is carried out at two levels.The first level is mainly about the Kavalan and the Sakizaya people's historical experience and cultural traits.First,I introduce the natural environment and human environment of Hualien region,the historical origin of the Kavalan and the Sakizaya people in the region,and their early social culture.Then,by rebuilding the historical image of "Jialiwan Event",a major historical event which happened in 1878(Qing Dynasty),I tried to investigate how historical factors led to and created the present distribution pattern and the social and cultural morphology of the Kavalan descendants and Sakizaya descendants in today's East area of Taiwan.Finally,after a review of historical evolution of the naming-classification system of Taiwanese aborigines,the study comes to the second level to examine how the Kavalan and the Sakizaya descendants conduct their practice to shape and maintain their ethnicity under the political and social structure in contemporary Taiwan.The discussion of this part is based on the background of the social and political transformation process of Taiwan since late 1970s.In this part,I first review the Kavalan and the Sakizaya's recertification movement to present how social power,cultural power and political power helped producing the distinctive ethnicity of the Kavalan and the Sakizaya.Second,I take from the perspective of cultural politics to investigate ethnic elites' elaboration in order to maintain the ethnic groups through cultural and political practice.The study attempts to present how the synergy of historical,cultural,social and political power construct the becoming of both "Taiwanese aboriginal ethnic group of Kavalan" and "Taiwanese aboriginal ethnic group of Sakizaya".In addition,it put such a process in the overall evolution of Taiwan's social and historical context,pointing out that in recent decades,the Taiwanese aboriginal group's re-classification practice is essentially product of the adjustment of Taiwan's internal political order,which is closely related to the overall process of Taiwan's social and historical development,as well as the "Taiwan independence" forces in the contemporary international order to seek "national" identity both in concept and in practice.Either"Kavalan","Sakizaya" or other "Taiwanese aborigines ethnic groups",are essentially constructs of the negotiation politics about the right of naming and classifing the Taiwanese aborigines in historical process.The ethnicitization of Taiwanese aboriginal groups are both products of historical process,and a process of recreating history as well.