DOCSLIB.ORG

Bunun Incorporation of Christianity in Their Spirit Relationships

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bunun Incorporation of Christianity in Their Spirit Relationships Transforming Tradition in Eastern Taiwan: Bunun Incorporation of Christianity in their Spirit Relationships Chun-wei Fang A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University April 2016 Declaration Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is the result of original work carried out by the author. Chun-wei Fang ii Abstract This thesis investigates the history of religious beliefs and practices among the Bunun people of eastern Taiwan after their acceptance of Christianity at the end of the Second World War. I describe the process of Christianisation among the Bunun people, especially those who live in Hualien County, and investigate the role of Christianity in the development of Bunun identity in post-war and post-colonial Taiwan. Instead of seeing Christianity as a „missionary imposition‟, I follow the ways the Bunun have actively adopted, interpreted, and modified both the indigenous and Christian forms and ideas to meet their needs in different periods. I argue, therefore, that the study of the interactions of Christianity and indigenous religious beliefs and practices should examine what makes some Christian ideas and forms more amenable to adoption than others, and what the determinant ones are. The thesis demonstrates that Bunun conversion to Christianity has been a complex process involving both continuity and discontinuity. Continuity and change take place at the same time and are interwoven. To gain a better understanding of the mutual constitution of Christianity and Bunun culture, I suggest that we approach this question by combining the exegetical and historical perspectives. The intertwined trajectories of evangelisation, Sinicisation, indigenisation, and urbanisation have deeply influenced the articulation between Christian beliefs and practices and indigenous ones. My argument is that the reason most Bunun people desire to maintain continuity with their pre-Christian ways, and the reason the minority refuse to do so, derives not only from the appeals of Christianity but also from their engagements with the ethnic, political, and cultural politics of Taiwan that they have experienced from the end of the Second World War to the present. The study of indigenisation is not only to see what has changed or been preserved, an ongoing interest among scholars, but also to focus on the articulation of Christian and indigenous cultural elements at any given time within the wider social and political environment in which the Bunun are placed. iii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and support of many people. First, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Bunun people, who looked after me and supported my research. In particular, I would like to give special thanks to Cina Ibu and her family, who treated me like a member of their family. I would also like to express my gratitude to Pastor Talima Nahaisulan (黃順利牧師), Pastor Taupas Tanapima (田光明牧師), Pastor Taupas Tanapima（田東波牧師), Pastor Manias Is-pasipal (張玉發牧師), Pastor Taupas Tanapima (田正義牧師), Pator Ibi Taki-ludun (宋銘金牧師), Pastor Wen-tsi Hu, Reverend Claude Gagelin, Talima Nahaisulan, Bisazu Nahaisulan, and many others for spending so much of their personal time and energy answering my questions. Without their guidance I would not have been able to enter and learn about Bunun culture and society. At ANU, I have been extremely fortunate to have Patrick Guinness as my supervisor. Patrick‟s ability to articulate problems and highlight intuitions is unsurpassed in my experience. Working with Patrick has fundamentally changed the way that I think about and approach research. His patience, encouragement, and insights were vital to the success of this thesis. I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to the members of my panel, James Fox and Bronwen Douglas, for their insights and suggestions over the course of this journey. While not on my panel, Christopher Ballard read drafts of various chapters and I would like to thank him for his useful comments. I would also like to thank my fellow postgraduate researchers and friends, Jinghong Zhang, Jingfeng Sun, Jennifer Holmgren, Sophie McIntyre, Tzu-yu Chiu, Ying-cheng Chang, and Trixie Tangit, for their encouragement and support. I also extend my deep gratitude to my teachers, colleagues, and friends in Taiwan for their kind support and assistance. I am indebted to Wen-te Chen, Shiun-wey Huang, Zhao-hua Ho, Han-chen Chiang, Siu-nang Fong, Jiuan Lin, Chang-hua Wang, Banay Watan, Yuma Taru, Yu-tsuen Hsu, Chien-chang Feng, Chi-shan Chang, Jing-Jhih Wang, and Yi-ling Tsai. I sincerely appreciate Hsueh Tsai for her assistance in drawing the map. I would like to give special thanks to JC Bartimus (傑西) for proofreading my draft chapters. His timely and invaluable help is greatly appreciated. iv My study at ANU was supported by scholarships from the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. My fieldwork was funded by the College of Arts and Social Sciences at ANU. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents, my sister and brother, my wife Chyi-chyi, my son Ming-long, and my daughter De-lian for their love and support. v Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iv Illustrations.................................................................................................................... xi Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Research Topic ............................................................................................................... 6 Christianity in Taiwan Austronesian Ethnography ...................................................... 12 Thinking of Continuity, Discontinuity and Christianity .............................................. 17 Ethnographic Setting .................................................................................................... 24 Outline of the thesis ..................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 1 The Pre-Christian Bunun ........................................................................ 37 Constructing the Bunun ............................................................................................... 38 Lumah as the House and Family .................................................................................. 43 House Membership Through Food-sharing ................................................................. 47 Pre-Christian Religious Beliefs and Practices ............................................................. 50 Hanitu (Spirits) .................................................................................................... 51 The Spirit of the Living Creature or Natural Object ............................................ 51 The Spirits of Living People ................................................................................ 53 The Spirits of Ancestors ....................................................................................... 55 The Wandering Spiritual Beings .......................................................................... 56 vi Spirit Mediums ..................................................................................................... 56 Is-ang (the Breath, Heart, and Soul) .................................................................... 57 Dihanin (The Sky) ............................................................................................... 58 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 2 Loss and Rediscovery .............................................................................. 66 Erasing the Bunun Past ................................................................................................ 67 The Past as Part of the Present ..................................................................................... 69 History: the Experiential and Shared Path ................................................................... 72 The Golden Age and its Losses .................................................................................... 75 Intensifying Political Struggles in the Early Japanese Period ...................................... 78 „The Bunun are as Ignorant and Wild as Barbarians‟ .................................................. 84 The Bunun Diaspora in a New Socio-political Arena .................................................. 87 Post-war Losses ............................................................................................................ 93 Save My People: Christianity and Rediscovery ........................................................... 94 The True Jesus Church ......................................................................................... 94 The Presbyterian Church ...................................................................................... 96 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 100 Chapter 3 Re-engaging the Ancestral Past ............................................................ 102 Experiencing the Power of Christian Spirit ..............................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Awkward Objects: Relics, the Making of Religious Meaning, and The
    Awkward Objects: Relics, the Making of Religious Meaning, and the Limits of Control in the Information Age Jan W Geisbusch University College London Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Anthropology. 15 September 2008 UMI Number: U591518 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U591518 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Declaration of authorship: I, Jan W Geisbusch, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signature: London, 15.09.2008 Acknowledgments A thesis involving several years of research will always be indebted to the input and advise of numerous people, not all of whom the author will be able to recall. However, my thanks must go, firstly, to my supervisor, Prof Michael Rowlands, who patiently and smoothly steered the thesis round a fair few cliffs, and, secondly, to my informants in Rome and on the Internet. Research was made possible by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
    [Show full text]
  • Pacifism and Apocalyptic Discourse Among Russian Spiritual Christian Molokan-Jumpers
    Church History 80:1 (March 2011), 109–138. © American Society of Church History, 2011 doi:10.1017/S0009640710001587 The Woman Clothed in the Sun: Pacifism and Apocalyptic Discourse among Russian Spiritual Christian Molokan-Jumpers J. EUGENE CLAY ITH its violent images of heavenly and earthly combat, the book of Revelation has been criticized for promoting a vengeful and Wdistorted version of Christ’s teachings. Gerd Lüdemann, for example, has attacked the book as part of the “dark side of the Bible,” and Jonathan Kirsch believes that the pernicious influence of Revelation “can be detected in some of the worst atrocities and excesses of every age, including our own.”1 Yet, surprisingly, nonviolent pacifists have also drawn on the Apocalypse for encouragement and support. This was especially true for generations of Russian Spiritual Christians (dukhovnye khristiane), a significant religious minority whose roots trace at least as far back as the 1760s, when the first “spirituals” (dukhovnye) were arrested and tried in Russia’s southern provinces of Tambov and Voronezh. Although they drew upon apocalyptic martial imagery, the Spiritual Christians were pacifists, some of whom came to identify themselves with the Woman Clothed in the Sun of Revelation 12. Spiritual Christians refused to recognize the sacraments, clergy, and icons of the state church; rather than kiss and bow to icons, they kissed and bowed to one another, and thus venerated human beings, who were the true image—or Research for this article was supported by the Pew Evangelical Scholars Initiative, by seed grants from the Institute for Humanities Research and the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University, and by the International Research and Exchanges Board with funds provided by the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • No 17 Taiwan, Province of China
    AN ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, NATIONAL LEGISLATION, JUDGEMENTS, AND INSTITUTIONS AS THEY INTERRELATE WITH TERRITORIES AND AREAS CONSERVED BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES REPORT NO. 17 TAIWAN 0 “Land is the foundation of the lives and cultures of Indigenous peoples all over the world… Without access to and respect for their rights over their lands, territories and natural resources, the survival of Indigenous peoples’ particular distinct cultures is threatened.” Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Report on the Sixth Session 25 May 2007 Authored by: Dau-Jye Lu, Taiban Sasala and Chih-Liang Chao, in cooperation with the Tao Foundation Published by: Natural Justice in Bangalore and Kalpavriksh in Pune and Delhi Date: September 2012 Cover Photo: Ten oars plank boat. © Si Ngahephep, Tao Foundation 1 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: …........................................................................................................3 PART I: COUNTRY, COMMUNITIES AND ICCAs ........................................................... 3 1.1 Country (or subnational region) ................................................................................ 4 1.2 Communities & Environmental Change ..................................................................... 5 PART II: LAND, FRESHWATER AND MARINE LAWS & POLICIES ................................... 9 2.1 Land ............................................................................................................................. 10 2.2 Natural Resource Management ..................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy
    SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 92 January, 1999 The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy by Christine Louise Lin Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair. The purpose of the series is to make available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Contributions in any of the major scholarly languages of the world, including Romanized Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM) and Japanese, are acceptable. In special circumstances, papers written in one of the Sinitic topolects (fangyan) may be considered for publication. Although the chief focus of Sino-Platonic Papers is on the intercultural relations of China with other peoples, challenging and creative studies on a wide variety of philological subjects will be entertained. This series is not the place for safe, sober, and stodgy presentations. Sino-Platonic Papers prefers lively work that, while taking reasonable risks to advance the field, capitalizes on brilliant new insights into the development of civilization. The only style-sheet we honor is that of consistency. Where possible, we prefer the usages of the Journal of Asian Studies. Sinographs (hanzi, also called tetragraphs [fangkuaizi]) and other unusual symbols should be kept to an absolute minimum. Sino-Platonic Papers emphasizes substance over form.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Marian Doctrine As
    INTERNATIONAL MARIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON, OHIO in affiliation with the PONTIFICAL THEOLOGICAL FACULTY MARIANUM ROME, ITALY By: Elizabeth Marie Farley The Development of Marian Doctrine as Reflected in the Commentaries on the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-5) by the Latin Fathers and Pastoral Theologians of the Church From the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Sacred Theology with specialization in Marian Studies Director: Rev. Bertrand Buby, S.M. Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute University of Dayton 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-1390 2013 i Copyright © 2013 by Elizabeth M. Farley All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Nihil obstat: François Rossier, S.M., STD Vidimus et approbamus: Bertrand A. Buby S.M., STD – Director François Rossier, S.M., STD – Examinator Johann G. Roten S.M., PhD, STD – Examinator Thomas A. Thompson S.M., PhD – Examinator Elio M. Peretto, O.S.M. – Revisor Aristide M. Serra, O.S.M. – Revisor Daytonesis (USA), ex aedibus International Marian Research Institute, et Romae, ex aedibus Pontificiae Facultatis Theologicae Marianum, die 22 Augusti 2013. ii Dedication This Dissertation is Dedicated to: Father Bertrand Buby, S.M., The Faculty and Staff at The International Marian Research Institute, Father Jerome Young, O.S.B., Father Rory Pitstick, Joseph Sprug, Jerome Farley, my beloved husband, and All my family and friends iii Table of Contents Prėcis.................................................................................. xvii Guidelines........................................................................... xxiii Abbreviations...................................................................... xxv Chapter One: Purpose, Scope, Structure and Method 1.1 Introduction...................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Henri Le Saux)
    THE CHURCH OF ABHISHIKTÅNANDA (HENRI LE SAUX) A Thesis Submitted to the University of Stirling for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in the Faculty of Human Sciences April 2009 Enrico Beltramini Religious Studies 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ......................................................................................................................... 7 Declaration .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Copyright ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7 PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION ..................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Interreligious Dialogue or Intercultural Dialogue ...................................................................................................... 10 Henri Le Saux
    [Show full text]
  • The History and Politics of Taiwan's February 28
    The History and Politics of Taiwan’s February 28 Incident, 1947- 2008 by Yen-Kuang Kuo BA, National Taiwan Univeristy, Taiwan, 1991 BA, University of Victoria, 2007 MA, University of Victoria, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History © Yen-Kuang Kuo, 2020 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee The History and Politics of Taiwan’s February 28 Incident, 1947- 2008 by Yen-Kuang Kuo BA, National Taiwan Univeristy, Taiwan, 1991 BA, University of Victoria, 2007 MA, University of Victoria, 2009 Supervisory Committee Dr. Zhongping Chen, Supervisor Department of History Dr. Gregory Blue, Departmental Member Department of History Dr. John Price, Departmental Member Department of History Dr. Andrew Marton, Outside Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies iii Abstract Taiwan’s February 28 Incident happened in 1947 as a set of popular protests against the postwar policies of the Nationalist Party, and it then sparked militant actions and political struggles of Taiwanese but ended with military suppression and political persecution by the Nanjing government. The Nationalist Party first defined the Incident as a rebellion by pro-Japanese forces and communist saboteurs. As the enemy of the Nationalist Party in China’s Civil War (1946-1949), the Chinese Communist Party initially interpreted the Incident as a Taiwanese fight for political autonomy in the party’s wartime propaganda, and then reinterpreted the event as an anti-Nationalist uprising under its own leadership.
    [Show full text]
  • China Study Journal
    CHINA STUDY JOURNAL CHINA DESK Churches Together in Britain and Ireland churches. ìogether IN BRITAIN ANO IREIAND® China Study Journal Spring/Summer 2011 Editorial Address: China Desk, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX Email: [email protected] ISSN 0956-4314 Cover: Nial Smith Design, from: Shen Zhou (1427-1509), Poet on a Mountain Top, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Album leaf mounted as a hand scroll, ink and water colour on paper, silk mount, image 15 Vi x 23 % inches (38.74 x 60.33cm). © The Nelson-Arkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: Nelson Trust, 46-51/2. Photograph by Robert Newcombe. Layout by raspberryhmac - www.raspberryhmac.co.uk Contents Section I Articles 5 CASS work group Report on an in-house survey of Chinese 7 Christianity Caroline Fielder Meeting social need through charity: religious 27 contributions in China A new exploration of religious participation in 53 social services - a project research report on the Liaoning Province Catholic Social Service Center Gao Shining & He Guanghu The Central Problem of Christianity in Today's 71 China and some Proposed Solutions Section II Documentation 89 Managing Editor: Lawrence Braschi Translators: Caroline Fielder, Lawrence Braschi Abbreviations ANS : Amity News Service (HK) CASS : Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing) CCBC : Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference CCC : China Christian Council CCPA : Chinese Catholic Patriodc Association CM : China Muslim (Journal) CPPCC : Chinese People's Consultative Conference FY : Fa Yin (Journal of the Chinese Buddhist Assoc.) SCMP : South China Morning Post(HK) SE : Sunday Examiner (HK) TF : Tian Feng (Journal of the China Christian Council) TSPM : Three-Self Patriotic Movement UCAN : Union of Catholic Asian News ZENIT : Catholic News Agency ZGDJ : China Taoism (Journal) ZGTZJ : Catholic Church in China (Journal of Chinese Catholic Church) Note: the term lianghui is used in this journal to refer to the joint committees of the TSPM and CCC.
    [Show full text]
  • Crossing Into Different Lives
    IPCF 2020 Issue magazine October 29 2020 October Issue 29 Issue October 2020 Crossing into mukakakua kuparaiaiahlüisa cucu sala'a cucu sala'a kuparaiaiahlüisa mukakakua Different Lives Crossing into Different Lives Different into Crossing “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. mukakakua kuparaiaiahlüisa cucu sala'a Words from Publisher Editorial pinadnaden o amizingan so cireng no rarakeh aka no malalavayo a tao pu'kataunan sa parhaway a kushwit Establishment of the Middle Ground Views across Generations Youthful Energy Pumps New Energy into Indigenous Communities o pimasawdan no makeykeylian a tao Traditional villages impose specific age rules and have their own Thau a kataunan lhmazawan ianan mani sa faqlhu a As the number of younger people returning to villages increases, an, pangozayan o cireng no rarakeh do systems to follow. It is always the village elders that provide kushwit, maqa ianan sa manasha wa parhaway mutauniza. a new force starts to form. The younger generation has come into opinions and make decisions on public affairs. However, kabedbedam no asa ka ili a vazavazay; am thuini a parhaway numa sa suma wa miniahala inai a thau contact with other groups within society, bringing back new ideas and when young people return to villages, they are faced with the fresh perspectives. Innovative approaches or solutions can then be sicyakwaya am, no siya mian do keymimili a qbit sa izai a shmuzaq, mapalansuun minfazaq, numa predicament where they cannot voice their opinions freely. Some kmathu sa faqlhu a inagqtu manakataun ; isa kataun derived when discussing issues in the villages.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion in China Today: Introduction Daniel L. Overmyer
    Religion in China Today: Introduction Daniel L. Overmyer In the last 20 years religious traditions in many parts of China have revived their activities and organizations and rebuilt their temples, mosques and churches, despite decades of strict regulation and repression by the government. This revival is an aspect of the greater social freedom that has accompanied the economic development and diversification of that period. The government is trying to maintain political control, and legal restrictions remain, but wherever local conditions permit, religious activities come bubbling to the surface, festivals for the gods are held, traditional funerals and burial rituals are restored, destroyed images and shrines are replaced, priests reappear to perform rituals, and congrega- tions meet to worship. There is some outside help for these revived activities, from such sources as overseas Chinese lineages, temples for the same gods in Taiwan, Muslim and Buddhist organizations in the Near East and South-East Asia, and Christian missions, but the fundamental impetus is the faith and devotion of the Chinese people themselves. All of this involves both the partial restoration of older traditions and adaptation to the present economic and social situation. Religious beliefs and rituals are an important and growing reality in modern Chinese society, which cannot be fully understood without taking them into account. They are also an important political issue for the government, because according to orthodox Marxist theory religion is supposed to wither away as socialism is established, but this has not happened. On the contrary, religious traditions with completely non-Marxist ideologies are flourishing, which amounts to a challenge to the authority of the Party and state.
    [Show full text]
  • Augustine and the Scandal of the North African Catholic Mind Paul Copan*
    JETS 41/2 (June 1998) 287–295 AUGUSTINE AND THE SCANDAL OF THE NORTH AFRICAN CATHOLIC MIND PAUL COPAN* Four years ago Mark Noll wrote a landmark book entitled The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.1 He pointed out that modern evangelicals are not known for their rigorous thinking, nor does popular evangelicalism tend to sustain the intellectual life.2 Such a situation, he noted, has practical im- plications. For instance, who will teach the children of evangelicals if they are not taught to love God with all their mind? All too often it is Hollywood or Madison Avenue3—not to mention fringe religious groups preying upon unprepared young minds. This scandal within Christendom is hardly a ˜rst, however. One was taking place during the time of Augustine (b. AD 354). In this case it was the scandal of the North African Catholic mind—a scandal that pushed him toward the Manichees, a Christian fringe group. During Augustine’s day North African Catholica were closeminded toward reason, toward a faith seeking understanding.4 And despite the simple, vibrant faith of his mother Monica, the young Augustine did not receive within Catholic Christianity the intellectual answers to his questions that he so desperately sought. In this paper I shall brie˘y explore Augustine’s antiintellectual environ- ment and its characteristics—especially with regard to the North African clergy—and then discuss the signi˜cant eˆect this had in driving him into the arms of the Manichees. I. NORTH AFRICAN CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY The atmosphere of North African Christendom in which Augustine grew up re˘ected the in˘uential thought of Tertullian (d.
    [Show full text]
  • The Amis Harvest Festival in Contemporary Taiwan A
    ?::;'CJ7 I UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII LIBRARY. THE AMIS HARVEST FESTIVAL IN CONTEMPORARY TAIWAN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'IIN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MUSIC MAY 2003 BY Linda Chiang Ling-chuan Kim Thesis Committee: Frederick Lau, Chairperson Ricardo Trimillos Robert Cheng ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would never have been able to finish this thesis without help from many people and organizations. I would like to first thank my husband Dennis, and my children, Darrell, Lory, Lorinda, Mei-ling, Tzu-yu, and Darren, for their patience, understanding, and encouragement which allowed me to spend two entire summers away from home studying the culture and music of the Amis people of Taiwan. I especially want to thank Dennis, for his full support of my project. He was my driver and technical assistant during the summer of 1996 as I visited many Amis villages. He helped me tape and record interviews, songs, and dances, and he spent many hours at the computer, typing my thesis, transcribing my notes, and editing for me. I had help from friends, teachers, classmates, village chiefs and village elders, and relatives in my endeavors. In Taiwan, my uncles and aunts, T'ong T'ien Kui, Pan Shou Feng, Chung Fan Ling, Hsu Sheng Ming, Chien Su Hsiang, Lo Ch'iu Ling, Li Chung Nan, and Huang Mei Hsia, all helped with their encouragement and advice. They also provided me with rides, contacts, and information. Special thanks goes to T'ong T'ien Kui and Chung Fan Ling who drove me up and down mountains, across rivers and streams, and accompanied me to many of the villages I wanted to visit.
    [Show full text]