Taiwanese Aborigines - Assimilation and Acculturation

Assimilation and Acculturation

Archaeological, linguistic and anecdotal evidence suggests that Taiwan's indigenous peoples have undergone a series of cultural shifts to meet the pressures of contact with other societies and new technologies (Liu 2002:75–98). Beginning in the early 17th century, Taiwanese aborigines faced broad cultural change as the island became incorporated into the wider global economy by a succession of competing colonial regimes from Europe and Asia (Shepherd 1993:1–10; Kang 2003:115–26). In some cases groups of aborigines resisted colonial influence, but other groups and individuals readily aligned with the colonial powers. This alignment could be leveraged to achieve personal or collective economic gain, collective power over neighboring villages or freedom from unfavorable societal customs and taboos involving marriage, age-grade and child birth (Shepherd 1995:58–63; Blusse & Everts 2000:77–8).

Particularly among the Pingpu, as the degree of the "civilizing projects" increased during each successive regime, the aborigines found themselves in greater contact with outside cultures. The process of acculturation and assimilation sometimes followed gradually in the wake of broad social currents, particularly the removal of ethnic markers (such as bound feet, dietary customs and clothing), which had formerly distinguished ethnic groups on Taiwan (Brown 2004:38–50). The removal or replacement of these brought about an incremental transformation from "Fan" (barbarian) to the dominant Confucian "Han" culture (Brown 2004:155–64). During the Japanese and KMT periods centralized modernist government policies, rooted in ideas of Social Darwinism and culturalism, directed education, genealogical customs and other traditions toward ethnic assimilation (Harrison 2001:60–7), (Duara 1995). Ethnic shift among the Gaoshan, who had less contact with outsiders due to the inaccessibility of their lands, was more the result of centralized assimilative pressures than gradual social change. Nonetheless, the cultures and languages of most of the recognized tribes remain resilient today. Multicultural policies have contributed to ethnic pride in those communities.