The Muslim Diaspora Identity and Cultural Landscapes in Lungang, Jhongli

• Main Author: 陳書偉
• Other Authors: 譚鴻仁
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/36236194869457478459

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 地理學系 === 100 === The mosque in Islam plays an important role in connecting the religious rites, norms, education, behavior and everyday life. It is also the center of the linkage in Muslin communities. There are only 6 mosques In Taiwan, located in Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. In Taiwan, the establishment of the mosque is mostly supported by the Chinese Muslim association. The establishment of a local Mosque in Jhongli City, displayed a bottom-up strength of local Muslims, who were mostly Yunnan-Myanmar border troops retreated from China in 1953-54. The second wave of local Muslim immigrants is overseas Chinese Muslims from Thailand and Myanmar, most of whom are descendants of Yunnan Chinese. They came here mainly for education, work or better living conditions. They become the majority members of the local Muslim community. The third wave of Muslim newcomers are foreign laborers, foreign students and merchants from the Southeast Asia, who come here within last decade. The diaspora groups from anywhere have their own culture backgrounds, experiences of diaspora and identities. Owing to the Muslim ethnical identities, the landscape of Jhongli Lungang shows the combination of the collisions, conflicts, adjustments and the special identities of Muslim. Furthermore, these Muslims created their new identities and subjectivities. The paper aims to document how these diaspora groups have formed their typical culture spaces and explain how a distinctive process of spatialization and localization of Muslim culture was made possible by different groups of Muslim immigrants. The results of this study indicate that diaspora space in Lungang Muslim community is a process of establishing relational space. In order to overcome the constraints and conflicts in Taiwan society, Muslims try to keep the community stable and expand their relational network by compromising with the religious doctrines and shaping the strategic identities. Physical limits for them are not dominant factors anymore.