UNESCO OBSERVATORY MULTI DISCIPLINARY eJOURNAL IN THE ARTS – Volume 10, Issue 1, 2023
Volume 10, Issue 1
2023

Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art: Polyphony and Mipaliw

Cover Image: Eleng Luluan at National Gallery of Canada.
Image Courtesy of National Gallery of Canada.

ISSN 1835 – 2776
Guest Editor: Dr. Ching-yeh Hsu<

Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art: Polyphony and Mipaliw

Polyphony is a musical term referring to multiple melodies, or voices.

“Eight-part-polyphony” is a unique vocal music sung by the Bunun, one of Taiwan’s indigenous nations. Recognized by the UNESCO as world cultural heritage, the Bununs’ complex harmony celebrates the millet harvest and offers respect to the ancestral spirits. It is sung by several singers facing inwards in a circle, arms interlocked, who separately initiate the different notes with the vowels a, e, i, o and u. The diversity of voices and tones is related to M. M. Bakhtin’s theory of polyphony as a metaphor for a literary work with a plurality of narrative voices. In the Bununs’ song as in Bakhtin’s theory, no single voice is subordinated or submerged. Rather, each individual voice remains distinct and necessary.

Nowadays, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis has made us more aware than ever before of the importance of mutual collaboration among human beings. Yet Taiwanese indigenous culture has long been based upon cooperation in life. For example, the Amis, the largest Taiwanese indigenous nation, uses the word ”mipaliw” to describe women’s mutual collaboration in farm labor, and even to cope with sexual harassment on the farm.

That same exchange of labor reflects and nourishes works in Taiwanese indigenous art and culture, so that one regional art festival took the word “mipaliw” for its title. The collaboration of labor, the diversity of voices – these are also seen in the work of Taiwanese indigenous contemporary artists. Polyphony and mipaliw are central to cultural diversity in art and life.

For this edition the authors’ essays address issues such as how do the Taiwanese indigenous artists cope with the sociocultural crisis in contemporary art and life through mutual collaboration? How is the metaphor of polyphony demonstrated by the diversity of voices in art and how art reflects the polyphony.

Dr. Ching-yeh Hsu
Guest Editor

Downloads

  • V10_1.1_thumb

    Volume 10, Issue 1.1

    POLYPHONY AND ECOCRITICAL DISCOURSE IN CONTEMPORARY PANGCAH ART: JOURNEYING WITH RAHIC IN THE SPACE OF 50 STEPS
    DJ W. Hatfield
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.2

    RHIZOME AS POLYPHONIC INDIGENEITY: THE FROTTAGE, SCANNED IMAGES AND INSTALLATION OF ELENG LULUAN’S ART
    Dr. Ching-yeh Hsu
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.3

    CURATING PERFORMATIVE SPACE WITHIN ELENG LULUAN’S EMBODIED SOVEREIGNTY: COLLECTIVE PROCESSES OF TRANS-INDIGENOUS COLLABORATION*
    Biung Ismahasan
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.4

    THE ARTISTIC SAILING OF MARINE DEBRIS AND THE RAINBOW WEAVING OF ATAYAL ETHNOGRAPHY: MAPPING THE POLYPHONY IN THE ART WORKS OF RAHIC TALIF AND YUMA TARU
    Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.5

    FROM THE “HISTORICAL IDENTITY” TO THE “CONTEMPORARY BODY”, A PROLEGOMENON TO THE CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS ART HISTORY IN TAIWAN
    Yu-Shih Lin
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.6

    BETWEEN MIPALIW AND PASIBUTBUT: REFLECTIONS ON THE CULTURE PHENOMENON OF POLYPHONY IN TAIWAN INDIGENOUS ART
    Li-Kuo Ming
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.7

    THE FEMALE IN THE OTHER: ON TAIWANESE INDIGENOUS FEMALE ARTS
    Chiung-Hui (Lovenose) Tzeng
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    Volume 10, Issue 1.8

    THE EMPOWERS FROM LAND, ROOT, OCEAN: A STUDY OF INDIGENOUS ART EXHIBITION
    Yu-Hsin Wang
About the e-Journal

The UNESCO Observatory refereed e-journal promotes multi disciplinary research in the Arts and Education and arose out of a recognised need for knowledge sharing in the field. The publication of diverse arts and cultural experiences within a multi-disciplinary context informs the development of future initiatives in this expanding field. There are many instances where the arts work successfully in collaboration with formerly non-traditional partners such as the sciences and health care, and this peer-reviewed journal aims to publish examples of excellence.

Valuable contributions from international researchers are providing evidence of the impact of the arts on individuals, groups and organisations across all sectors of society. The UNESCO Observatory refereed e-journal is a clearing house of research which can be used to support advocacy processes; to improve practice; influence policy making, and benefit the integration of the arts in formal and non-formal educational systems across communities, regions and countries.

ISSN 1835 – 2776
UNESCO E-Journal
an Openly Published Journal affiliated with
The UNESCO Observatory at
The University of Melbourne

Edited and published by Lindy Joubert
Founding Director of the UNESCO Observatory
Email: lindyaj@unimelb.edu.au
Endorsed by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education