The Dialogue Between Tourism and Ethnicity－The Tourist Souvenirs of Atayal in Wulai

• Main Authors: Chiang, Kuei-Chen, 江桂珍
• Other Authors: Wang, Sung-Shan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/bq6bvr

碩士 === 國立臺北藝術大學 === 傳統藝術研究所 === 93 === Abstract In about 1730s a group of Atayal moved from Ren-ai Township in Nantou County to Wulai in Taipei County. The “Wulai Atayal,” due to the geography of this new habitation and the accompanying political interference, had been interacting with the Han people since as early as late 18th Century. As a consequence of this interaction, their degree of sinicization accelerated, the distinction between aboriginal and Han gradually blurred, and their ethnic awareness faded away in the process. Ever since the Japanese rule, the Wulai region where they dwelt, because of its vantage in natural environment, developed as a tourist spot. In 1964 the Wulai Scenic Administration was officially established and was further reorganized as Wulai Special Scenic Administration of Taipei County in 1970. This marked the advent of official tourist administration in Wulai. For Wulai Atayal, tourism was a boon as well a bane. On the one hand, tourists came with a misguided conception of the authentic culture of Wulai Atayal, which twisted the way Wulai Atayal perceived their own authentic culture. On the other hand, it also induced the Wulai Atayal to reexamine the meaning of their own culture and yielded an opportunity to adjust their own ethnic identity. The tourists desired to seek and own the authentic culture of Wulai Atayal; facing this increasing need helped to consolidate Wulai Atayal’s ethnic awareness, to maintain their ethnic boundary, and to further induce them to rethink one important issue: should they attempt to preserve the tradition of their tribe or should they develop “new traditions” to represent the “authenticity” tourists sought for and thereby benefit from the increasing business opportunities. Examining the production of tourist souvenirs of Wulai Atayal, we will discern two strategies dominated by two factors: in order to increase business opportunities, they transformed ethnic handicrafts into tourist commodities; in order to exhibit their own ethnic images, they attempted to produce tourist souvenirs in accordance with such images. This thesis focused on the Atayal tourist souvenirs on the intersection of “tourism” and “ethnicity.” It discussed the“ tourism culture” and the “staged authenticity” created on the main street of Wulai. It also analyzed the stategies governing the Wulai Atayal handicrafts and the temporal and spatial backgrounds that form the Wulai Atayal tourist souvenirs. Then it examined the changes in the Atayal textile productions during the evolution from ethnic handicraft to tourist souvenir, as well as the “revitalized tradition” in this evolution. Finally, this thesis attempted to discribe how the Wulai Atayal tradition persisted and evolved by these two strategies of practice, namely, to commodify ethnic handicrafts into tourist souvenirs and to model tourist souvenirs under ethnic images. Keywords: Wulai, Atayal, Tourism, Ethnic Handicraft, Ethnic image.