Taiwan inside-out: Rescaling colonial constructions of Taiwan through a Tayal-focused lens

Abstract

This research deals with issues of Indigeneity and autonomy in Taiwan by notionally turning things inside-out. We aim to contextualise international geopolitics and local polity by considering the Tayal people, one of 16 nationally recognised Indigenous groups living in northern Taiwan. We reject the conventional geopolitical lens of Great Power claims as the only and best way to understand contemporary Taiwan and chooses to refocus and rescale the geopolitical lens. We seek to reconsider Taiwan’s history, geography, and territory by reference to the conceptual lenses that apply to Tayal peoples’ experiences. The research methods employed include geographical fieldwork, literature reviews, and archival studies. The research acknowledges Tayal people’s custodianship over their territory and provides an in-depth discussion on the colonial history and geography of Taiwan. In the process, we unsettle what is taken-for-granted and rescale erasure, violence, and resistance in Indigenous Taiwan. In building a Tayal-centred positionality, we reframe geopolitical dynamics as connections within territories and across boundaries rather than as disputes over deeply contested boundaries. Neither Tayal people nor other Indigenous peoples in Taiwan ever ceded their sovereignty. Regardless of any broader geopolitics shifts, Tayal territory remains just the way it always has—Tayal territory.