Truly Human explores the lifeworlds, ethics, and political strategies of Indigenous peoples in Taiwan amid colonialism, geopolitical tensions, and internal political conflicts.
The Sediq and Truku Indigenous peoples on the mountainous island of Formosa - today called Taiwan - say that their ancestors emerged in the beginning of time from Pusu Qhuni, a tree-covered boulder in the highlands. Living in the mountain forests, they observed the sacred law of Gaya, seeking equilibrium with other humans, the spirits, animals, and plants. They developed a politics in which each community preserved its autonomy and sharing was valued more highly than personal accumulation of goods or power. These lifeworlds were shattered by colonialism, capitalist development, and cultural imperialism in the twentieth century.
Based on two decades of ethnographic field research, Truly Human portrays these peoples' lifeworlds, teachings, political struggles for recognition, and relations with non-human animals. Taking seriously their ontological claims that Gaya offers moral guidance to all humans, Scott E. Simon reflects on what this particular form of Indigenous resurgence reveals about human rights, sovereignty, and the good of all kind. Truly Human contributes to a decolonizing anthropology at a time when all humans need Indigenous land-based teachings more than ever.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Tables
Note on Orthography
Preface
Introduction
1. Introduction to Taiwan and Its Indigenous Peoples
2. Samat (Forest Animals)
3. Mgaya (Headhunting)
4. Utux (Spirit)
5. Lnglungan (Heart)
6. Tminun (Weaving)
7. Conclusion
Epilogue: Indigenous Peoples and Relations with China
Glossary of Foreign Words
References
About the Author :
Scott E. Simon is a professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa.
Review :
"This masterful ethnographic appreciation brings the island's iIndigenous peoples to the forefront of our anthropological understanding of Taiwan. The writing is beautiful, the analysis keen, and Simon's identification with the culture and beliefs of the people he has worked with and lived among, and about which this book is written, is deep and multifaceted. A major contribution to the study of Taiwan and indigeneity."
--Myron L. Cohen, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
"In times of globalized capitalism and environmental degradation, do Indigenous ways of living and thinking offer viable alternatives? Is anthropology itself viable now that studying 'culture' has been revealed as just one more imperialist activity? After decades spent getting to know the Truku and Seediq peoples of Taiwan, Scott E. Simon's answers to these questions are honest, passionate, challenging, tentative, and hopeful."
--Stevan Harrell, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology and School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington
