Case Study — Taiwan
Taiwan — Traditions Outside the List
台灣 · Bunun Ritual · From Ritual to Theatre
Taiwan is not a member of the UN/UNESCO. It cannot become a party to the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage, and its international status constrains the formal pathway to inscription. This is a core distinction of this project — We document what UNESCO cannot.
The Bunun are one of Taiwan's 16 officially recognized indigenous peoples. Under Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945), mobile kinship communities (sidohk) were reorganized into fixed settlements, and rituals shifted from kin-centred to village-wide communal events.
At a Bunun tribal leisure farm in Taitung, rituals have been restructured as tourist performances. Wang Ting-Wei (王廷瑋) first read this as 're-ritualization,' but has since moved toward a different concern: fixing culture into one 'correct' form may itself hasten its disappearance (written correspondence, 2026). The concepts on this page are updated as that conversation continues.
Field Observations
Provisional observations — based on 2026 fieldwork records; updated as analysis is finalized.
- One Bunun community declined government support, choosing independent operation through church funding. It is an integrated community where daily life, art, education, and work are not separated — governed by moral and ethical constraints rather than legal ones.
- At the Hunter School (獵人學校) of Taiwan's indigenous communities, students learn to feel the wind with their bodies. Embodied knowledge that cannot be fully captured in language or documents is transmitted through bodies, places, and relationships.
- For Wang Ting-Wei (王廷瑋), a Bunun artist and dramaturg, the dramaturg’s role is research, translation, and preventing cultural harm.
Historical Context
1895-1945 — Japanese colonial rule. Bunun highland settlements reorganized; millet-based livelihoods converted to rice cultivation.
1984 — Taiwan Indigenous Rights Promotion Association established; cultural revival begins.
1994 — Legal recognition of "indigenous peoples" formally established.
Present — 16 officially recognized peoples; Taiwan operates its own intangible cultural heritage system (600+ designations).
Reference Paper
Wang Ting-Wei. "From Ritual to Theatre: Cultural Translation and Re-ritualization of Bunun Rituals."
Analyses cultural translation strategies of Bunun rituals in the context of cultural tourism and theatrical performance, focusing on a Bunun tribal leisure farm in Taitung.
Open Questions
- Is 're-ritualization' another name for commodification, a survival strategy — or a concept already to be moved beyond?
- How can the international visibility of Taiwan's indigenous cultures be secured when UNESCO inscription is not an option?
- Does pan-indigenism protect or erode the distinctiveness of individual peoples?
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The price of a coffee becomes an hour of interpretation or a page of transcription in the next fieldwork. How funds are used is disclosed concretely.
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