Michael Rudolph 2004: “Ritual
Reinvention and the Emergence of Taroko-Identity in Taiwan: The
Case of the Ancestor-Gods-Rituals”.
In:
Taiwan
Studies in Comparative Perspectives: Proceedings of the 10th
Annual Conference of the North American Taiwan Studies
Association.
Abstract This contribution focuses on the revitalization and modification of rituals of Taiwanese Aborigines under the influence of Taiwanese nativism, Christianity, and elites’ competition in times of multiculturalism. It is argued that ritual performance and identity construction are closely interrelated under these circumstances: Apart from serving as a means of authentication, contemporary ritual supports the reorganization of group relations (i.e., through re-negotiation of roles, positions and statuses), the nurturing of more positive self-perceptions as well as the deepening of a sense of community. It is a contested question in anthropological theory whether rituals must be considered as mere structures of representation that just preserve and strengthen personal, social and cultural identities, or whether rituals should rather be seen as effective social practices that negotiate, change and reconstitute these identities, thereby transforming and subverting social reality (C. Bell 1997). If we take a closer look at recent processes of ritual reinvention in Taroko society in Taiwan, we realize that these performances actively affect social reality in several ways: In so called ‘Ancestor-Spirits-Festivals’ that are initiated by ethnic elites and collectively held once a year in different Taroko communities since 1999, the officially so far unrecognized existence of the Taroko as an ethnic group independent from the Atayal is worked out and reassured to the aborigines themselves as well as to Taiwan’s Han. In addition, the performances serve to mediate and re-negotiate latent social and psychological tensions: The analysis of iconic significance and indexical effectiveness of ritual action (a methodology developed by S. Tambiah 1979) not only shows that the status and authority of different ethnic elites (educational, clerical, and political) as well as of Han-spectators is thoroughly challenged during the performances, but that formerly ‘stigmatized identity’ (Xie Shizhong 1987) is re-assessed and transformed into more positive self-perceptions. The results described above are also confirmed by ritual criticism connected to the performances.
Keywords: Taiwan Aborigines, Taroko (Truku), ritual reinvention, identity formation, multiculturalism, head hunting |