The materials of indigeneity: slate and cement in a Taiwanese indigenous (Paiwan) mountain settlement

Abstract

This article considers the implications of the adoption of cement and concrete as building materials in a mountain settlement of the Paiwan, one of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. The presence of these materials in an indigenous settlement might at first glance be interpreted as a sign of cultural assimilation. This article suggests rather that, by paying close attention to the ways in which locals engage with the changing properties of imported materials in work and daily life, a more complex understanding can be gained of the negotiated relations of power between indigenous people, the state, and market forces, as well as the role of materials in these negotiations. For the Paiwan, creative engagements with foreign materials and their changing properties have, at various moments, represented ways of adapting to the pressures to assimilate, or, conversely, resulted in expressions of cultural resilience.