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WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Music Culture and the Self-Presentation of Indigenous Musicians on Social Media in Contemporary Taiwan Lin, G. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Miss Guo-ting Lin, 2021. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Music Culture and the Self-Presentation of Indigenous Musicians on Social Media in Contemporary Taiwan Guo-Ting Lin A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2021 Abstract The purpose of this research was to provide an indigenous perspective of popular culture in Taiwan as a means to re-examine Taiwanese contemporary identity. In-depth qualitative interviews and digital ethnography were adopted to collect data about indigenous musicians' self-presentation on social media. Being an indigenous musician in postmodern Taiwan is a highly contested phenomenon, as social media offers a double-edged sword requiring a conjunctional analysis that delves into both the past and the contemporary. This research unpacks the performance of contemporary indigenous musicians in the post-digital media age and offers five findings. Firstly, the indigenous musicians interviewed for the purpose of this research use social media to perform their indigenous identities to wider audiences, both indigenous and non- indigenous. Secondly, identity performances of indigenous musicians on social media are inspired by and reflect the richness and diversity of Taiwanese society. Thirdly, indigenous musicians act as spatio-temporal bridges commuting between urban and rural spaces, on- and offline and between tradition and contemporaneity. Fourthly, indigenous musicians in Taiwan do not only create and perform music, but also give a huge importance to defining and re-articulating what they think indigenous music is and what role it should play in contemporary Taiwanese society. Finally, online self- presentation provides indigenous musicians with an opportunity to present their performed identities beyond the local to a global audience, allowing non-indigenous audiences to participate in their culture. Using empirical evidence from the interviews and the digital ethnography, this thesis demonstrates how identity performances by Taiwanese indigenous musicians oscillate between three different and inter-related identity processes: ‘doing’ indigenous, ‘being indigenous’, and ‘becoming’ indigenous. i Table of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. I LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ IV LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. IX CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1. DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE? ............................................................................................ 1 1.2. TRADITIONAL TERRITORY CONTROVERSY .......................................................................... 2 1.3. RESEARCH SCOPE AND QUESTION ........................................................................................ 4 1.4. FRAMING THIS RESEARCH .................................................................................................... 6 1.5. CONTRIBUTION AND SIGNIFICANCE ..................................................................................... 9 1.6. OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTERS .............................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 2 CONTEXTUALIZING TAIWANESE INDIGENOUS MUSIC .......................... 13 2.1 THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ......................................................................................... 13 2.2 PRIOR TO 1987 .................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 THE POST-MARTIAL LAW REGIME ..................................................................................... 22 2.4 RECORDING TECHNOLOGY AND THE INDUSTRY OF THE ‘ALTERNATIVE SOUND’ OF INDIGENOUS MUSICIANS IN TAIWAN ................................................................................................ 25 2.5 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW: EVOKING THE IDENTITY OF BEING INDIGENOUS 41 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 41 3.2 TAIWAN AND INDIGENOUS ISSUES ...................................................................................... 43 3.3 THE MUSIC AND IDENTITY OF THE YUANZHUMIN ............................................................. 51 3.4 MUSIC, EMOTION AND AFFECT THEORY ............................................................................ 57 3.5 THE NETWORKING ON SOCIAL MEDIA ............................................................................... 60 3.6 THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN TAIWAN ............................................................. 64 3.7 MEDIA REPRESENTATION AND SELF-PRESENTATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA .......................... 70 3.8 THE TAIWANESE INDIGENOUS MUSICAL NETWORK ON SOCIAL MEDIA ............................ 72 3.9 NON-MOVEMENT, PERFORMANCE AND ARTICULATION .................................................... 75 3.10 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 82 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 82 4.2 DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 83 ii 4.3 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS ....................................................................................................... 97 4.4 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................. 108 4.5 THE ETHNOGRAPHER’S POSITIONALITY .......................................................................... 110 CHAPTER 5 TAIWANESE INDIGENOUS MUSICIANS’ SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: A DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH ................................................................................ 113 5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 113 5.2 MAIN PAGE ON FACEBOOK AND THE FIRST IMPRESSION ................................................ 115 5.3 PHOTOS PAGE ON FACEBOOK AND SELF-PRESENTATION ................................................ 128 5.4 VIDEO PAGE ON FACEBOOK ............................................................................................. 141 5.5 POSTS ON FACEBOOK ....................................................................................................... 147 5.6 CONNECTIONS AMONG DIVERSE PLATFORMS ................................................................. 161 5.7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 180 CHAPTER 6 EXPLORING THE MULTIPLE ASPECTS OF ‘INDIGENOUS MUSIC’ AND ITS RELATION TO IDENTITY ....................................................................................................... 183 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 183 6.2 DEFINING INDIGENOUS MUSIC ......................................................................................... 184 6.3 LANGUAGE USE IN INDIGENOUS TAIWANESE MUSIC ....................................................... 193 6.4 MUSIC AND IDENTITY ....................................................................................................... 199 6.5 SELF-PRESENTATION ONLINE .......................................................................................... 207 6.6 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 218 CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................... 221 7.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 221 7.2 DAILY PERFORMANCE AS SOCIAL NON-MOVEMENT ........................................................ 222 7.3 UNPACK THE PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................... 225 7.4 LANGUAGE, MUSIC AND INDIGENEITY ............................................................................. 227 7.5 SOCIAL MEDIA