here’s an excerpt, plus a pdf of a longer excerpt of some of my recent work in progress, “other desires for the other: erotic narratives and indigenous cosmopolitanism on taiwan.” i welcome comments!
An outward oriented, acquisitive stance is pinangan no fa’inayan (the way of men), however male desire for the Other, although necessary, perturbs this stance: it may impede the man’s return. Songs about the far ocean fishing trade tend, when they have lyrics, to focus on either the loss of male desirability or the pain of longing. Male desire, as it appears, can only be articulated beyond normal language. And yet, like the implausible beauty of a Spanish beggar–who looked just like Jesus–it informs the bidding of men who worked in the far ocean fishing trade for recognition as cosmopolitan and as ‘Amis.
