Mittwoch, 10. April 2019, 18:30 - 20:00 iCal

The (Re)enchanted Forests of the Sejiq

How Animals Connect

Humans to the Realms of the Ancestors in Taiwan

SIN 1, Department of East Asian Studies
Spitalgasse, 2 Hof 2 Aufgang 2.3, 1090 Wien

Lecture


Life in the forest lies at the core of the identities of Truku or Sejiq Nations. It gave them a rich corpus of rituals, practical knowledge of nature, and a cosmology linking humans, animals, and ancestral spirits. Indigenous life-worlds have been challenged by the introduction of Christianity, new forms of education, as well as by a colonial history and new forms of labour that have alienated many people from the forests. Yet, Taiwan’s indigenous nations have demonstrated great resilience. Indigenous youth are taken

back into the forests, and hunters have all found their own unique ways of re-enchanting the forests. In this lecture, based on nearly two decades of feld research in Nantou and Hualien, I will explore the on-going entanglements of humans, animals and spirits in the mountains. How have forest mammals and birds, dogs and pigs, connected the living and the dead, the past and the present, in Sejiq (Truku) territory? What role do animals play in the re-enchantment of the forests in a time of indigenous resurgence?

Zur Webseite der Veranstaltung


Veranstalter

Vienna Center for Taiwan Studies


Kontakt

Astrid Lipinsky
Vienna Center for Taiwan Studies
Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften
4277 43844
astrid.lipinsky@univie.ac.at