Reconsidering Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Austronesian Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews previous attempts to characterise the nature of social differences among the Austronesian speakers of Taiwan and the theoretical roots of these efforts, including the contrast Marshall Sahlins’s drew between Melanesian Big-Men (achieved status) and Polynesian Chiefs (ascribed status). This contrast was later applied to the diverse social organisations found among the Austronesian speakers of Taiwan. However, linguistic research over the past three decades has suggested that Proto-Austronesians may have already developed chiefdoms and social hierarchies and that Taiwan was one of the key sites for the origin of Austronesian speakers. Some scholars thus concluded that the ‘egalitarian’ type of societies among the Austronesian Taiwan must have been the result of Japanese colonial policies. This paper intends to re-think this dichotomy with ethnographic material from Austronesian Taiwan, especially the Paiwan; to distinguish the ideological and practical dimensions of this historical reconstruction; and to examine the viability of the analytical tools which have been widely adopted in the anthropological literature on other Austronesian societies.

KEYWORDS:

• Austronesian Taiwan
• hierarchy and egalitarianism
• ascribed and achieved
• house society
• the ideological and the practical

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Correction

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Kun-hui Ku http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5729-7453

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2019.1698181)

Notes

1 It is interesting to note that Mabuchi’s paper was included in the Southeast Asia region but after WWII the study of indigenous Taiwan was hardly considered as part of the Southeast Asia region. I think the changing geopolitical position of Taiwan in Asia is the key.

2 The same term is used in church settings for personal testimony. See Paiwan Hymn book (1993).

3 See also Bloch's (1995, 69) case where the house of the original couple becomes a 'holy house' (and the essential center of a village) and is gradually transformed into a village.

4 Elders could still identify the location of this historical site located near the border between old Piuma and old Su-Paiwan, during the tomb-sweeping holiday in 1997.

5 The royal house was divided into two parts: one for residence and another for religious activities. La Gaguligul members were charged with the settlement's religious activities, a task which consequently gave them the rights to collect tributes from the commoners. The last noble priest (parakalai) of the chiefly house of La Marvaliu in Piuma, Remaliz, aged 65 in 1997, also claimed that the reason he was chosen to perform this duty by divine prophecy was because he belonged to both the La Daugadu and La Gaguligul houses. The selection of the priest was made by malada (female religious practitioners) with zaqu (a specially made small ball with soapberry seeds). When the name of the candidate was spelled and the zaqu eventually stood still on the surface of a round instrument, it was said to indicate the candidacy of the person named. This is similar to divination among the Azande (Evans-Pritchard 1940). However, there are certain criteria for choosing initial candidates. Remaliz became a Christian at the age of 17 and married a member of La Kazangilan, thereby forming a union which was supposed to reconcile the divisions in the community.

6 They prefer those who do not branch out or those whose current house is also a chiefly one. For example, the first-borns of La Paketavai and La Ruruan houses, both high ranking, married in order to combine these two houses and lived in La Paqetavai house. The La Ruruan house was left vacant only later to be occupied by the youngest daughter of La Paqetavai, who formed a new independent house with the same name. When the issue came up regarding where to pu-diuma (set up a nuptial swing for noble brides) for La Paqetavai members in the new Piuma, there were several potentially competitive candidates including two generations of La Paqetavai descendants. The candidates of the older generation or older siblings do not necessarily have priority if they are married into a commoner's house. The swing simply cannot be erected in front of a commoner's house. The decision was made to establish La Ruruan house in the new Piuma as a site for erecting swings for La Paqetavai members.

7 In Piuma, the material structure of a house is seen to represent its symbolic potency. For similar cases, see Chiang (1993).

8 There was no formal explanation as to how that crisis was resolved. Some said that nobility from Kuraluc decided that they couldn't rule two places from a distance and so entrusted the power to the first-born of La Gaguligul house.

9 Cf. Evans-Pritchard 1940; Bohannan 1952; Leach 1954; Bouquet 1993; Mosko 1994.