Ethnology of the Southwestern Pacific

In Toichi Mabuchi’s article “Ethnology of the Southwestern Pacific”, he talks about the concept of life sphere’s as well as how the change in social shift became a large area of study for him (1974: 175). Although when he began his studies he had no concrete idea about what the social shift distribution was. Mabuchi feels that the Institute of Ethnography has become handicapped by three different factors: research staff, research funds and the deadline for publishing results (1974: 176). As a result, of this he felt it better to begin studying the oral history of the Formosa rather than the cultural history since oral history came before anything was written meaning it had been around for a longer period of time. While he began his research Mabuchi became more and more interested in the “folk knowledge” of the Formosa, which included the oral history, encompassing both synchronic and diachronic dimensions within the society (1974: 176). Rapid change has occurred for the Formosa aborigines in regards to their culture and society during and after WWII, this resulted in it being very hard for research to now work within the aboriginal state.

  

 

            Most cultural activities within the Formosa are performed on a spatial base and such a base is demarcated by cultural activities (1974: 177). This base will then have geographical extensions and this connection allows for the people to have knowledge specific to their area and culture. This bond is quite flexible and varies depending on the cultural activities, however, in societies where intercultural exchange is more brisk and the differentiation of profession and status is more conspicuous making it often hard to demarcate the geographical spheres (1974: 177). This gives the impression that it is easier to study primitive societies where things are static and there is less differentiation in human activities, since they have not been as exposed to moving culture compared to people who live in big cities or who have access to advanced technologies (1974:177). This is part is due to tribes trying to keep out undue influence and who would rather live the lives they’ve grown accustomed to then have their everyday lives changed regularly due to technology, they believe in tribal closedness in order to exclude external influences on their lives. As a result of tribal closedness it is not unheard of that unfamiliar people of distant localities be regarded as supernatural, based solely on the idea that they’re different from the local tribe (1974: 177).

 

  

Mabuchi starts to describe the life spheres of the Formosa aborigines, which are, geographical knowledge of the “life sphere”, geographical knowledge of the “observation and hearsay sphere” and geographical knowledge of the “legend sphere” (1974: 179). In the geographical knowledge of the “life sphere”, he talks about how farming huts are often build right next to the farms in order for them to be closer to their work, and although it started out being used mainly during the busy farming season most eventually will turn into permanent homes. This information is indispensable for aboriginal culture, and this makes it so that the farming life of the aborigines has no great relevance to the degrees of expansion on their geographical knowledge (1974: 179). Hunting is a much more important phase of their subsistence than farming, although there are no professional hunters among them except some of them have better hunting skills than others.  The geographical knowledge of the “observation and hearsay sphere”, relates to a sense of encirclement of the area in direct contact with daily life activities, although the knowledge is less deep and less detailed than the life sphere (1974: 180). The geographical knowledge of the “legend sphere”, looks at a much wider geographical knowledge area, though not rarely colored with supernatural taints, it is still preserved in the oral tradition for some reason or another, much beyond the regions of observation and hearsay sphere (1974: 182). Mabuchi, last point in his article is all about ethnic and regional diversity where he discusses the different recognized ethnic groups that make up Taiwan.

Image Source:

Formosa Aboriginal (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Aboriginal_with_formosan_dog.jpg)

Formosa Sculptures (http://www.travelingboy.com/guest/taiwan1.jpg)

References:

Mabuchi, T. (1974). Ethnology of the southwestern pacific. Orient Cultural Service.