The Cultural Politics of Contemporary Folk Performances in Taiwan: The Case of Chio-Tian Folk Drums & Arts Troupe
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Hsu, Dayi
Abstract
This thesis examines the transformation of Chio-Tian (Jiu-Tian) Folk Troupe, based in Taichung (Taizhong), from a local temple procession group to an internationally recognized entrepreneurship known for its acrobatic drum performance and folksy commodities. Formerly, the rising popularity of “folk performance” (Yi Zhen) in Taiwan is often attributed to the carving of Taiwanese “indigenousness” in the context of post-Cold War cultural politics, as the Taiwan central government attempts to shift from the cultural image of “Free China” to one that embodies a “unique” Taiwanese identity. Nevertheless, a more nuanced inquiry into the troupe’s development indicates that former attempts to classify folk performance into exclusive categories of performance art, folklore, religion, or delinquent education by the culture sector fail to encapsulate the multifaceted nature of traditional folk performance, ultimately leaving troupes without a proper channel to secure sufficient funding for development. Therefore, this phenomenon reveals the inner conflict within Taiwan’s current multiculturalist policy, in which cultural differences became inadequately subjected to universal assumption and categorization under the cultural administration, which has hampered the potential development of folk performance in Taiwan. On the other hand, however, the multiple characteristics of folk performance were also reconstituted by Chio-Tian into specialized social activities in the forms of drum instruction, theatrical performance and commercial spectacles through the employment of a business management model, giving Chio-Tian the success much needed to compensate meager government funding. Further, these specialized activities could also be reincorporated into a creative cultural form of its own to enhance the troupe’s publicity, which is manifested in the troupe’s annual Tour de Taiwan Ultramarathon event. Featuring youth athletes carrying deity puppets of the popular Third Prince (San Tai Zi) in an island-wide race during summertime, the event sensibly combine the marketing of cultural products, drum performance and the troupe’s cultural events with the inspiring image of Taiwanese youths bravely crossing around the island by foot. In doing so, the immense suffering and toil endured by these athletes became an embodiment of the continuing struggle the troupe has gone through in its expansion from a temple procession group to a renowned performance art troupe. Moreover, the constant media coverage throughout the event showcases how the troupe has evolved from relying entirely on external media reportage to developing its own self-representation mechanism in Facebook fan pages, theme songs and film shooting, etc. Against this fieldwork backdrop, I argue that native anthropologists, as ethnographic writers anticipated to bring forth the “uniqueness” of their home culture, are in danger of unconsciously becoming complicit with the informants’ self-representation, which further implies a concealed form of cultural nationalism. In conclusion, the cultural transformation of Chio-Tian manifests an alternative form of contemporary folk performance which, in lack of government subsidies, strives to represent itself as a brand of “Taiwaneseness” by constantly evoking the troupe’s past suffering during temple processions, cultural events and overseas excursions. In addition, it is a novel form of folk culture that transcends the epistemic duality of cultural essentialism and politico-economic reductionism manifested in former studies of folk performance, which often present the subject as either a continuation of popular religion, or a political and commercial invention driven by party politics and late capitalism.
Subjects
folk performance
popular religion
cultural politics
self-representation
suffering
SDGs
Type
thesis
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