Paelabang Danapan (Pinuyumayan)

介紹卑南族作家孫大川的三本散文集。

(paelabang danapan, second from left)

Calling himself a 'stage builder for Formosans',  paelabang danapan (Puyuma Nation) as far as I see indeed deserves this epithet. I feel it from our encounters, his endeavors; and I see it from the following three books that collect his various pieces of writing from 1985 until 2010.

Professionally speaking, paelabang danapan is a professor of Formosan history, literature and political development; Chinese and western philosophies have also since been his research interests. He taught at various places including Soochow, National Dong Hwa and National Chengchi universities.

Although he personally witnessed and believed in the silent power of an ivory tower like Oxford and Cambridge as well as that of a European monastery during his MA study in Belgium — "I truly believe my contemporary intellectuals should take building the ivory tower [of knowledge] as their mission of the time. Only by standing above reality can we come to a true understanding of reality! " (The World of Sea and Mountain, p. 77)—, his deep concerns for fellow indigenous Formosans, 'the Peoples of the Dusk", prevented him from building one, let alone hiding in one.

Instead, he has created a long and outstanding career in politics, serving twice in the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), first as its very 1st Deputy Minister, then as its 7th Minister. Now he is the Deputy President of the Control Yuan. I think for him, only by standing 'entangled in reality' rather than above or away, can he lay the foundation for indigenous development in perspective. Entangled until the end of his day.

The World of Sea and Mountain was first published in April 2000. This cover belongs to its second edition that came out in January 2010, during paelabang danapan's second return to CIP.

Forty essays written between 1985 and 1999 are found and divided into four parts in the book: Part I remembers his family and childhood; Part II records his time in  Europe; Part III and Part IV may be seen together for they all reveal his lifelong strong interests in (and thus continuing serious reflection upon as well as involvement in) indigenous literature, history and politics.

For readers who wish to know the author, The World of Sea and Mountain will be a nice starting point. Especially in his epistle 'Philosophy is in fact nostalgia, a desire to settle everywhere' (1985), paelabang danapan reviews his life (at least until 1985) with honesty and confirms that his conflicting inbetweenness is the misplacement of his soul. Causes behind might vary, but the result is unsettling. Only living and experiencing and thinking and continuing to live in history can slowly settle him.

This epistle is in reality more than a description of the author's own mind; it accords with the subtitle of the collection, echoing the experience of most indigenous peoples in the world. Misplacement is a common throughout international indigenous communities. What paelabang danapan shows is the journey of an indigenous Formosan intellectual attempting to seek peace with himself.

The Construction of Indigenous Peoples Against All Odds (1st edition in April 2000 and 2nd edition in January 2010) is the heaviest of all, though also the popularist of all.

Thirteen essays written between 1992 and 1999 are paelabang danapan's dialectical conversations with the following indigenous issues. All are based upon indigenous Formosans, and all are to a large extent inter-related:

- indigenous language

where he reviews how the loss of self-identifying symbols (i.e. language) among all indigenous peoples create self-denying loss of the peoples themselves, and how 'symbolize' indigenous peoples may be a way of saving the nations;

- indigenous development

where he talks about the predicament and prospects of indigenous development from the perspective of political participation, social work, indigenous community organization, administration, education, curriculum,  and creative industries;

- indigenous identity

where he discusses in length the reconstruction of pan-indigenous identity by questioning the popular four categories of ethnic groups in Taiwan (Mandarin Chinese, Holo Taiwanese, Hakka and Indigenous Peoples); clarifying the differences between ethos, nation and ethnic group, and the levels where these terms have been used in Taiwan; encouraging the narrating and writing of the indigenous subject as a whole so as to create a pan-indigenous identity; and finally returning to the roots to connect with the village and peoples so as to secure individual indigenous identity;

-indigenous history

where he, following his continuing interest in the topic, again emphasizes the otherness of indigenous history as a result of non-literate tradition, and more importantly, the return to indigenous history from recognizing (or allowing) more types of historical evidences as well as from involving indigenous historians in the production of indigenous history for perspectives are rooted.

Unlike The World of Sea and Mountain, these thirteen essays are to me the work of Professor paelabang danapan, well-organized, seriously logic-based and heavily quoted. Naturally, this is also the collection that many studies of Taiwan's indigenous peoples have consulted.

The final Notebook of taLu'an that collects essays written in the first decade of the 21st centuries is the most familiar to me. I've heard some of the stories in various public and private occasions; most of all, I know the author's tone best in this way.

Although these essays are also divided into three parts, I find the connection and disconnection a bit unclear. Reading one piece after another without a clear thread is not a problem as long as one knows the author cares about indigenous peoples from all sides and has been writing about them from all sides. I know, so I follow.

For me, what stands out in this book is the author's prefaces for many different publications about indigenous peoples both in and outside Taiwan. It indicates two things: first, his kind gesture in promoting junior Formosan writers to the world; second, his concerns for indigenous peoples exceeds the border of a nation-state.

In addition to his continuing concern for indigenous literature history, paelabang danapan pays no less attention to advancing indigenous international affairs. In fact, it was during his trip to the Netherlands in February 2012, which my erstwhile supervisor in Leiden and I myself helped to organize, that we met and that I have been since given the privilege of his trust to continue my humble work and growth in indigenous affairs. I am grateful.

Of course, Professor paelabang danapan has published more than these three books and has inspired even more people. His ivory tower is not a locus but a journey. As he constantly travels between pinaseki, his birth village, and Taipei, the city he loves and lives for more than three decades, he will also continue to journey between his love and anxiety for indigenous peoples and their future.

There is his flying ivory tower.