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.

Rimuy Aki (Atayal)

介紹泰雅族女作家里慕依•阿紀的兩本長篇小說：山櫻花之戀及懷鄉。

(Rimuy Aki, first from left)

Rimuy Aki (Atayal Nation) is one of the few indigenous female writers in Taiwan. She works as a Atayal language teachers at elementary schools; writing, a very lonely business as she once told me, is something else for her. 

I think Rimuy actually prefers telling stories to writing them. When I read her novels, I always feel she is just right there on every page reading every line to my ear. That is how 'smooth' her story line goes; I can easily finish seventy or a hundred pages in some hours. 

Unlike Syaman Rapongan who writes about Tao men and their sea with  a hard soul, Rimuy's tone is soft, very feminine, and sometimes excessively romantic for a reader being trained as a historian like me, even when she deals with Atayal hunters struggling with wild boars in deep mountains. Nevertheless, she soothes the soul. 

The other day at the release conference of her second novel, Missing Home, I heard people calling her 'A writer that heals the soul'. Despite the fact how I do complain she simplifies life and colonial reality in her novels, I couldn't agree more with the comment. That is  one of the values of her writing. 

A Preliminary Study of Loanwords in Formosan Languages

介紹我在2014年12月27日2014年台灣原住民族語言國際研討會發表的「台灣原住民族語借詞初探」。

On 27th December 2014, ILRDC (Indigenous Languages Research and Development Center) hosted its first international conference in Taipei, Taiwan. 

(Photo from left to right: Te Haumihiata Mason, Amy Pei-Jung Lee, Poia Rewi, former ILRDC Director Wen-Chung Kao, Feng-Fu Tsao, Paul Jen-Kuei Li, Yedda Palemeq, Joy Jing-Lan Wu, CIP Director Kun-Sheng Chen, Tiun Hak-khiam and Tukung Sra)

The theme of the conference was 'Loanwords, New Words and Indigenous Revitalization Policies'. Thirteen specialists and junior researchers of the Austronesian languages attended to share their knowledge; eight of them are indigenous. 

Taiwan Indigenous TV covered the conference with 原民外來新詞調查成果 學者交流. My colleague, ilong moto, and I myself were interviewed for our individual research, while Deputy Minister of Council of Indigenous Peoples, Tunkan Tansikian, talked about the purposes and prospects of ILRDC. 

Syaman Rapongan (Tao): Part II

介紹達悟族作家夏曼•藍波安2014年最新長篇小說：大海浮夢。

How can I translate Syaman Rapongan's (Tao Nation) latest book 大海浮夢 (2014. 09), an autobiography and biography of a pretty man and a pretty people on their continuing journey towards keeping the beauty of native science and native way of life? 

I still don't know, but I know I need more than knowledge of the English language to deliver that. 

Four chapters; four hundred and seventy three pages. I follow Syaman through his childhood, adolescence, self-exile across islands of the South Pacific and pirate-haunted Moluccas Strait; at last we return to the almost empty beach by his village on Pongso no Tao since nowadays, only very few of them care about the tradition of tatala (plank boat) building. 

With the introduction of motor-driven boats comes the decline of interest in traditional Tao canoes. So gradually disappear the native knowledge of trees, fishes and, most of all, the reciprocity between nature and people through labor. 

Fieldwork: Highways, Villages and Peoples

分享我在原住民族語言研究發展中心進行的借詞研究田野調查。

Fieldwork

Over past two months, I was constantly on the road, traveling from one  village to another, one hill to another. 

My task was to collect as many loanwords as possible from every indigenous people that I visited; however, my collection so far has reached way beyond the scope of a research report on loanwords.

What I have learned about loanwords from indigenous elders is the subject of my presentation in the first annual international conference organized by ILRDC (Indigenous Languages Research and Development Center). The date is December 27th (Saturday) and the venue is with National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan. 

So, I will skip that serious part of the story here and focus on the highways, villages and peoples. Or precisely, the things that make me want to return and stay. I think I can become a farmer, too. 

Preliminary Study of Loanwords in Taiwan's Indigenous Languages

Presented at National Dong Hwa University on October 25, 2014.

Lamuru Pakawyan (Pinuyumayan)

2013年臺灣原住民族文學獎小說第二名：卑南族林嵐欣的"不，她不是我的Vuvu"。

In addition to my work at the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Center, I also occasionally take translation projects, though I specifically choose projects related to indigenous peoples only. 

This is not bias, for those who tend to tag me as plagued with Chinese-phobia. I have just this amount of time and energy; I choose where to make the best use of my contribution. 

The latest project I completed was translation of short stories written by debut indigenous writers in Taiwan. All of these stories won either the first, second, third or recommendation prize of Annual Formosan Indigenous Literature Award sponsored by Council of Indigenous Peoples and Shan-hai Cultural Magazine Publishing Association. In other words, they are like the Formosan counterparts of Maori stories I introduced earlier in "Huia Short Stories 10: Contemporary Maori Fiction", "Bugs" or "Zhu Mao". 

Among the stories I translated, the second-prized story by a young writer from the Puyuma Nation, Lamuru Pakawyan (or Lin Lan-Hsin 林嵐欣 by her Chinese name), literally stopped me in the middle of my work. Disregarding the public space where I was in, I just could not stop my tears. I cried and I sobbed until the point of exhaustion when I could no longer work with the text. I only resumed the next morning. 

This young writer may not intend to incite such strong sentiment in her readers. Nevertheless, her story has that kind of power for those who have experienced the same thing. Those who understand will cry. Her story is called "No. She Is My Vuvu"; it is included in the 2013 Anthology of 4th Formosan Indigenous Literature Award (photo). 

From CIP to ILRDC

有關原住民族語言研究發展中心。

No. 63 Sec. 1 Roosevelt Road 100 Taipei Taiwan

This trapezoid of multiple colors and a waistline would certainly catch admiration of many in the city of Architect Antoni Gaudí of Barcelona. See how brave it is just to be so different in this desertland of concrete and steel! 

Unfortunately, standing here in the center of Taiwan's capital right next to the shrine of Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek, this building did not earn what it deserves. Instead, people think it odd and bad feng-suied, perhaps even much lower than a building of mosquitoes. Difference is not appreciated, but what of it? It cannot be stopped.

Welcome to the Story Tower of Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples. Welcome to the nucleus where many beautiful stories about indigenous languages are to be brought to the world. Welcome to Indigenous Languages Research and Development Center.

Zhu Mao (Pig Hair) by Mark Sweet (2011)

Another novel completed under Te Papa Tupu Program, the six-month intensive writing program sponsored by The Māori Literature Trust, Te Waka Toi and Te Puni Kōkiri (with help from Huia Publishers), Zhu Mao (2011) has a red cover and an even redder content. 

Though I had had it on the shelf a bit earlier than Bugs, its bloody China kind of red cover discouraged me from picking it up. Even the fact that red has always been my color cannot help.

There is a reason behind the red cover. The author Mark Sweet traveled to China in the 1980s and found the setting of the story at Wudangshan, the birthplace of Chinese martial art Tai Chi. Though he enjoyed his trip and inspiration, why he left New Zealand in the first place was not as enjoyable. As 'Zhu Mao by Mark Sweet' (10 October 2011) quoted from the author himself, he was fleeing from the country's outright rugby racism. A hot blood; no wonder the cover.

The World until Yesterday (2012)

Jared Diamond's latest New York Times bestseller (2012) has a beautiful title 'The World until Yesterday' and a not so beautiful subtitle 'What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?'. My view. 

Don't get me wrong, though. I am not discrediting the lessons to be learned from New Guineans or Native Americans or Pacific islanders or the Dinka and the Nuer. I am simply saying while the title 'The World Until Yesterday' invokes imagination like 'two roads diverged in a wood' (Robert Frost) or 'out of lemon flowers loosed on the moonlight' (Pablo Neruda), the subtitle 'What Can We Learn' appeals to reason like many self-help books on the shelf. Obviously, in terms of style, I vote for the former.

Is that perhaps the secret? Mixed yin and yang and a sharp contrast that dangles your judgement? After all an obvious riddle can be tasteless; so, at least make a catchy title. Either way, not much attention has been paid to the main title honestly. Instead, people argue fiercely about its subtitle. The Corry-Mazower Critique climaxes this contention.