The Last Refuge and Forced Migration of a Taiwanese Indigenous People During the Japanese Colonization of Taiwan – An Ethnohistory | Journal of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics
Tag: Bunun
Cultural Continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), Southern Taiwan (Book Chapter)
Asst Professor Dr Steven A Martin
Assistant Professor of Asian Studies in Sociology and Anthropology
Chapter 8 | Cultural Continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), Southern Taiwan | Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines
Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age | Ch. 8 – Cultural Continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), Southern Taiwan | Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines
Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2017). Cultural continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), southern Taiwan (pp. 215–246). In H. Chang and A. Mona [C. Tsai] (Eds.), Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age. Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and SMC: Taipei.
Press Release | Faculty of International Studies
20th anniversary of Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines
In 2014, Dr. Martin, was invited to Taiwan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines in cooperation with Academia Sinica, the foremost research institute in Taipei, ROC. The Museum offered Steven a place in their upcoming publication, a book to commemorate their 20th anniversary: Religion, Law and State: Cultural Re-invigoration in the New Age.
After three years of communication and collaboration, the Museum’s book has been published and is now available to English and Chinese readers.
Steven’s research was focused on the remote, high-mountain jungle valley of Laipunuk (內本鹿), in the inaccessible mountains of southern Taiwan, home of the Bunun tribe, the last Taiwanese headhunters.
Having lived with the Bunun tribespeople for five years, he recorded their ways of life, their songs, their traditions and their histories, as part of an oral ethnography project.
According to Steven, “Taiwan is the source of the centuries-long process of the peopling of the Pacific, the so-called ‘Pacific Rainbow’ that maps the migration of peoples, materials and languages across the islands of the Pacific, from Taiwan all the way across to Hawaii.”
Speaking for the Faculty of International Studies (FIS), Steven shared his experience:
“Their stories are the last of their kind, and it was an immense privilege to have the opportunity to document their lives.”
Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2017). Cultural continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), southern Taiwan (Ch. 8) (pp. 215–246). In H. Chang and A. Mona [C. Tsai] (Eds.), Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age. Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and SMC: Taipei.
Abstract
Over the past century, the Bunun people, an Austronesian-speaking indigenous culture of Taiwan, have withstood acute marginalization resulting from outside incursion, particularly from the Japanese (1895–1945) and the Nationalist Government (since 1945). However, in recent years democratic reforms ushered in opportunities for cultural conservation and new sustainability through cultural resource management. This research is focused on a particular group of Is-bukun Bunun speakers from the high-mountain villages of Laipunuk, Yen-Ping Township, Taitung County, Southern Taiwan. It seeks to identify aspects of intersystem cultural continuum amidst acute social change induced by external pressures. The research employed the translation of rare Chinese documents and interpretation by scholars in the discipline, the recordation of oral history through video and audio devices, by in-depth interview, and through participant observation. The study found that the Bunun have demonstrated profound cultural resilience in the contexts of ritual dance, marriage, hunting, religion, and the identification of place. Cultural traditions and behaviors were often modified and adapted to fit within the cultural norms and expectations of dominant cultures, yet deep intrinsic meanings were carried forward, crossing spiritual and generational gaps. The research offers a window to Bunun epistemology and cultural systematics, exploring how indigenous peoples perpetuate their beliefs and values through internal cultural transformation; it serves to document the home-grown cultural resource management of a Taiwanese human treasure for English readers.
Keywords: Southern Taiwan, Bunun, Laipunuk, Formosan indigenous, Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation, historical cultural continuum
Ethnographic Film
Asst Professor Dr Steven A Martin
Assistant Professor of Asian Studies in Sociology and Anthropology
Ethnographic film and Bunun oral history | Nabu Istanda (left) and his uncle (right) | Click to learn more...
ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM AND BUNUN ORAL HISTORY IN SOUTHERN TAIWAN
In 2003, I met David Blundell, founding anthropologist for the International Master's Program in Taiwan Studies (currently Asia-Pacific Studies) at National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taiwan. David was teaching a course called Culture and Ethnic Structure of Taiwan, and ethnographic filmmaking was one of the topics in the class. Although I had very little experience in this area, I tagged along with David to learn more.
I was a first-time graduate student, and was looking for an adventurous and rewarding research topic. Through David and senior students at the university, I was introduced to Filmmaker Tommie Williamson (1955-2017) (see my Taiwan Studies page) and Nabu Istanda with the Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation (Bunun Village) in Taitung, southern Taiwan.
Nabu encouraged me to come to the Bunun Village and meet his family who were from the Bunun tribe, an indigenous ethnolinguistic group who had resisted Japanese subjugation in the 1920s and 30s and taken refuge in a remote area of the high mountains named Laipunuk (Chinese Nei Ben Lu 內本鹿).
Nabu Istanda at home in the mountains of Laipunuk | Nei Ben Lu 內本鹿
Nabu explained that the Bunun elders in their village, now 70 to 90 years old, were being lost to old age, and with them, their stories of traditional life, beliefs, language, trade, values, and their relationships with one-another, other indigenous tribes, the Chinese, and the Japanese, were being lost forever.
Nabu was asking for rescue ethnography.
Without hesitation, I agreed to help.
The next four years of my life alternated between the classroom in Taipei and the remote mountains of southern Taiwan. I spent most of my life savings on travel, camera gear and mountaineering equipment.
I have now documented this story and research into several pages and videos on this website. If you're inspired to learn more, please review this page and other pages and videos by following links below.
Cornerstone webpages, photos, and videos
- Taiwan Studies | Cornerstone page
- Ethnographic Research | Cornerstone page
- Nationalism and Ethnic Politics | Publication page
- SAGE Ethnography | Publication page
- Shung-Ye Museum | Book chapter page
- YouTube/ UniversityFilmworks
- 2005 Laipunuk youth program | Photos
- 2006 Research expedition | Photos
- 2006 Research expedition | Video
In Our Hearts and Minds | Project backstory | 2004
ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM AND RESEARCH | BUNUN ORAL HISTORY
Memories of a Culture, the Istanda Family of Laipunuk 內本鹿
Filmed primarily at the Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation (Bunun Village), Taoyuan Village, Yenping Township, Taiwan.
The sample footage provided here includes ethnographic narratives from four siblings, namely two brothers, Biung and Nabu, and two sisters, Ibu and Langus. Each informant recounts their personal experience in the high mountains of southern Taiwan, including historical and cultural events of their forced relocation to the lowland areas surrounding Taitung.
This research is the original work of Tommie Williamson, Nabu Istanda, and Steven Martin, and is intended for academic and cultural purposes. If you would like to use a video for research, gain access to the complete archival footage, or collaborate on a project, please contact me through this website and I will be happy to help.
Tama Biung Istanda | Oral History | Bunun | Laipunuk 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video, one of 15 clips, is an oral history audio/visual recording of Tama Biung Istanda (1920-2007), recounting his life experience in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 , southern Taiwan. The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by his nephew Nabu. Laipunuk was among the last frontier areas of Taiwan to be annexed into Imperial Japan, and the informant tells of his childhood experiences, cultural traditions, and arrival of Japanese police who forced his family to move.
Accepting that the Japanese were a "Great and powerful tribe", Biung joined the Tagasako Volunteers, a group of Taiwan aborigine soldiers. His on-camera story includes events during WWII and his survival in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.
Tama Biung Istanda 1920-2007 | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
Sections of this ethnography series have been published in SAGE Ethnography and Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age as referenced below.
- Martin, S. A. (2022). A Taiwan knowledge keeper of indigenous Bunun – An ethnographic historical narrative of Laipunuk (內本鹿), southern mountain range. Ethnography, 23(2) 153–180. https:/doi.org/10.1177/1466138120937037
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2022). The last refuge and forced migration of a Taiwanese indigenous people during the Japanese colonization of Taiwan – An ethnohistory. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 28(2) 206–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2021.2011545.
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2017). Cultural continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), southern Taiwan (pp. 215–246). In H. Chang and A. Mona [C. Tsai] (Eds.), Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age. Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and SMC: Taipei.
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2014). A new trial for the journey home to the Bunun villages of old Laipunuk, Taiwan: Contextualizing island Formosa through cultural heritage, digital mapping, and museology. Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Formosan Indigenous peoples: Contemporary Perspectives (p. 89). Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, September 15–17.
Nabu (Uncle) Istanda 1929-2005 | Oral History | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video, one of three clips, is an oral history audio/visual recording of Nabu "Uncle" Istanda, recounting his life experience in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 (Nei Ben Lu), southern Taiwan. The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language his nephew Nabu. Laipunuk was among the last frontier areas of Taiwan to be annexed into Imperial Japan. The informant tells of his youth and cultural experiences, the arrival of Japanese police, and his family's forced relocation to the Talunas area (Taidong County).
Sections of this ethnography series have been published in Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age as referenced below.
Nabu (Uncle) Istanda 1929-2005 | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2017). Cultural continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), southern Taiwan (pp. 215–246). In H. Chang and A. Mona [C. Tsai] (Eds.), Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age. Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and SMC: Taipei.
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2014). A new trial for the journey home to the Bunun villages of old Laipunuk, Taiwan: Contextualizing island Formosa through cultural heritage, digital mapping, and museology. Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Formosan Indigenous peoples: Contemporary Perspectives (p. 89). Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, September 15–17.
Langus Istanda | Oral History | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video, one of five clips, is an oral history audio/visual recording of Langus Istanda (1926-2015) recounting her life experience in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 , southern Taiwan. The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by her son Nabu. Laipunuk was among the last frontier areas of Taiwan to be annexed into Imperial Japan. The informant tells of her childhood experiences, cultural traditions, and arrival of Japanese police who forced her family to move.
An English-language translation of this video has been published in the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS) as referenced below.
Langus Istanda 1926-2015 | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
- Martin, S. A. (2011). Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu)—The last frontier of the Taiwan aborigines during the Japanese occupation on Taiwan: Ethnographic narratives of a Bunun elder. The International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 7(1) 123–142.
- Martin, S. A. (2011). Rebuilding mama’s house—An ethnohistorical reconstruction and homecoming of the Bunun on Taiwan. Journal of International Studies, 1(2) 61–78. Phuket, Thailand: Faculty of International Studies, Prince of Songkla University.
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2022). The last refuge and forced migration of a Taiwanese indigenous people during the Japanese colonization of Taiwan – An ethnohistory. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 28(2) 206–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2021.2011545.
Ibu Istanda | Oral History | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video is an oral history audio/visual recording of Ibu Istanda who was in her mid-80s at the time of filming. On-camera support for the interview was provided by her younger sister, Langus. The first of two short interviews of Ibu "Auntie" Istanda before her passing, she tells of the hardships experienced in her youth. As with other family informants in this series, Ibu recounts her life experience in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 , southern Taiwan. The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by her son Nabu and her sister Langus.
Ibu Istanda | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
AUDIO-VISUAL RECORDINGS FROM BUNUN INFORMANTS WITH EXPERIENCE IN LAIPUNUK
Zu Mei Lin (Bunun name Shiwa) | Ethnography | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video is an audio-visual recording of Shiwa (Chinese name Zhu Mei Lin). The interview focuses around the informant's understanding of her Hakka Chinese grandfather's marriage to Bunun and their relocation to Laipunuk from Lakuli, a Japanese trading station across the Central Range, west of Laipunuk. Shiwa's father, of Hakka Chinese and Bunun mixed blood, lived in Laipunuk and made and traded guns and gunpowder in the villages of Takivahlas, Halipusun, and Mamahav. Shiwa explains her family grew corn, millet, pumpkin, sweet potato, taro and tobacco.
Lin Zu Mei (Shiwa) | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by Nabu Istanda. An English transcript of this video is available upon request and interview content is appears in the publications listed below.
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2017). Cultural continuum among the Bunun of Laipunuk (Nei Ben Lu), southern Taiwan (pp. 215–246). In H. Chang and A. Mona [C. Tsai] (Eds.), Religion, law and state: Cultural re-invigoration in the new age. Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and SMC: Taipei.
- Martin, S. A., & Blundell, D. (2014). A new trial for the journey home to the Bunun villages of old Laipunuk, Taiwan: Contextualizing island Formosa through cultural heritage, digital mapping, and museology. Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Formosan Indigenous peoples: Contemporary Perspectives (p. 89). Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, September 15–17.
Gu Song Shan | Ethnography | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video is an audio-visual recording of Bunun Gu Song Shan. On-camera support for the interview was provided by Langus Istanda. The first of two interviews, his talks about his life experience, villages and places in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 , southern Taiwan. The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by Nabu Istanda.
Gu Song Shan | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
Gu Yu Chun Lan | Ethnography | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video is an audio-visual recording of Bunun Gu Yu Chun Lan. On-camera support for the interview was provided by her friend, Langus Istanda. The second of two interviews, she answers questions about Haisul, the notorious Bunun rebel and the events leading to the Laipunuk Incident and forced removal of the Bunun from Laipunuk by the Japanese field police. As with other family informants in this series, she recounts her life experience in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 , southern Taiwan. The interview was conducted in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by Nabu Istanda.
Gu Yu Chun Lan | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
Yu Xing Yo (Bunun name Biung) | Ethnography | Bunun | Laipunuk | 內本鹿 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video is an audio-visual recording of Bunun Yu Xing Yo. On-camera support for the interview was provided by Langus Istanda. The first of two interviews, his talks about his life experience, including the village of Takivahlas, where the Istanda family first built their home in the mountains of Laipunuk 內本鹿 , southern Taiwan.
The interview was conducted at the Bunun Village (Bunun Buloa 布農部落) in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language by Nabu Istanda.
Yu Xing Yo (Biung) | Ethnohistorical Research | Bunun of Laipunuk, Taiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
Bia Shirakimura 白木村 | Ethnography | Paiwan | Bia Culture 白聖賀 | Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
This video is an audio-visual recording of Bia Shirakimura. On-camera support for the interview was provided by his Bunun wife, Langus Istanda. One of four clips in which Bia talks about his life experiences, including the Paiwan village of Bia (白聖賀 Bia Culture), growing up in Tubabalu (now called Tudan) South of Taidong City, and joining the Japanese military as a Takasago Volunteer. He tells us about meeting and marrying his Laipunuk Bunun wife, Langus Istanda, in Bashkal, near today’s Bunun Buloa, and the issues he faced from marrying out of his culture. The interview was mainly conducted in Japanese by Nabu Istanda.
Bia Shirakimura 白木村 | Ethnohistorical Research | Paiwan | Steven Martin | University Filmworks
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY AND THE STAGE AT BUNUN VILLAGE
Indigenous Music of Taiwan | Part 1 | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
The stage at the Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation in Taidong, Taiwan, allowed an opportunity to record the musical traditions of the Bunun and other indigenous groups. The majority of the participants' families were originally from Laipunuk. Though personal interviews with the participants in this video, English-language synopses were developed (see bottom of the Ethnographic Research page).
As European powers contacted and influenced ethnolinguistic Austronesian-speaking peoples in Southeast Asia, vocal folk songs were particularly influenced by the introduction of new musical instruments. In contrast, the Bunun held on to acappella traditions, and vocal music retained rich and complicated in style and content. The acappella styles featured here range from the most basic to some of the the most complicated of all modern vocal music. With songs for nearly every occasion of life, content includes those for religious ceremonies, worship, nature, work and recreation.
Indigenous Music of Taiwan | Part 1 | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
Please visit my Ethnographic Research page (bottom of page) to learn more.
THE ETHNOGRAPHIC MOMENT | MUSIC AND SOLIDARITY IN TAIWAN
Remastered from "Nikar's Hot Springs Moment"
Filmed at the Hong Ye Hot Springs, Taitung County, Taiwan, three friends from different ethnolinguistic backgrounds meet coincidentally.
- Nikar/ female/ granddaughter of an Amis shaman and singer.
- Hawai/ male/ Puyuma/ guitarist
- Asui/ male/ Kavalan/ wood carver
This recording was unplanned and the artists’ cultural expressions are spontaneous, songs blending and changing tempos and lyrics as each person interjects their own feeling and cultural background when singing their part.
The blending of aboriginal music in this film exemplifies the contemporary trend of solidarity among Taiwan’s indigenous cultures. For example, Amis melody is usually one step faster than Puyuma, and individuals must adjust to each other, while Japanese and Chinese influences on indigenous music reflect the events of last century.
Notes on the content of the video based on personal interviews with the participants. Six pieces of music.
- Amis
- Amis/ same as song 1 but with Puyuma melody.
- Puyuma/ melody from Nanwan area near Taidong/may be the type of song and feeling when meeting a friend from your home town.
- Amis/ new melody with Japanese influences.
- Amis/ Puyuma/ from Katiputa (Puyuma village)/ new creation/ melody may come from Ziben Hotsprings area (on the road to Kaohsiung from Taitung)/ an Amis/ Puyuma composition with some Chinese language/many aboriginals sing this song today/words indicate solidarity/we are all family.
- Amis/ Puyuma/ song used to bring the spirit of friends together/usually sung a-cappella style/ it has the sense of crying out for recognition.
The Ethnographic Moment | Music and Solidarity in Taiwan | Steven A. Martin | University Filmworks
Thank you for visiting my Ethnographic Film page.
I hope you enjoy the videos and the information in the links provided. If you feel motivated to learn more about my experience in ethnographic research, Taiwan Studies, or would like to arrange for me to give a public presentation, please let me know – I’d love to hear from you.
–Steven Martin
Cornerstone webpages, photos, and videos
- Taiwan Studies | Cornerstone page
- Ethnographic Research | Cornerstone page
- Nationalism and Ethnic Politics | Publication page
- SAGE Ethnography | Publication page
- Shung-Ye Museum | Book chapter page
- YouTube/ UniversityFilmworks
- 2005 Laipunuk youth program | Photos
- 2006 Research expedition | Photos
- 2006 Research expedition | Video