the illusion of reconciliation

Taiwan’s Tsai Ying-wen administration began with several large promises to transform the way that the government interacted with the populace. In relationship to indigenous groups, these promises included the startling Continue Reading →

playing aborigine (2): open and closed participatory practices

one way that we might productively understand disputes over ethnic chinese either feeling entitled to participate in or appropriate taiwanese indigenous dance is to consider an issue that seems to Continue Reading →

o tfon itira: the moon cave (update)

i’ve been working on the sound installation piece “o tfon itira” a bit more recently, making a trip back up to makota’ay to record inside the moon cave. the piece Continue Reading →

spears or umbrellas? dance and the politics of stance

what are the stakes in the revival or reformation of ritual? to answer that question we might ask (1) what kinds of stances do particular revivals or ritual practice afford, Continue Reading →