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Transformation of Indigenous Knowledge — Palakaw.

Tribal elders demonstrating to a tour group the Fataan traditional fishing practice of Palakaw.

Location: Asia, Taiwan

Palakaw, the traditional fishing of Fataan Amis people, was prevalent in many streams around Fataan, especially the Fudeng stream in today’s wetland area. Nevertheless, it had disappeared for years because of multiple social factors. Recently, Fataan’s tourism boom has led to the re-emergence of this traditional fishing practice as one of the major tourism attractions. It is usually performed by the tribal elders, who are the only people still familiar with Palakaw nowadays. Regarding Palakaw as the unique Fataan cultural heritage, the Fataan Culture and History Workshop has propagandized Palakaw since its inauguration. However, other groups, including the Guang-Feng Farmer Association and the Greater Fataan Community Development Association, also participate in the narrating activities of Palakaw.

Tourists watching a presentation at the Fataan Ancient House in Kakitaan.

Palakaw is depicted as “ecological fishing” in most mass media, such as guidebooks, brochures, and TV programs. According to those media’s description, Palakaw reveals the cultural wisdom of Fataan’s Amis people to live harmoniously with nature. It is described as a kind of local knowledge which is in contrast to the tense relation between human and nature in today’s modern society. In addition, most mass media refer to the Workshop as the restorer of Fataan’s Amis culture. Accordingly, official statements identify Palakaw as invaluable indigenous knowledge, which should be carefully preserved and purposefully revitalized. Moreover, although different groups have their own narrating system, all the narration they present to tourists seem to reinforce a stereotyped image of the Palakaw. Beyond the cultural restoration, Palakaw has become a major tool to gain the government’s notice and attract investment for indigenous cultural revitalization. While the Development Association also tries to use Palakaw to gain attention from the outside, Palakaw for them is only part of Fataan’s culture, and thus people should not take Palakaw as a whole to know Fataan. Different ideas concerning Palakaw result in a series of conflicts and negotiations. Consequently, the revitalized tradition, ironically, contains much more innovated meanings rather than tradition. People use Palakaw to struggle for political power, to establish ethnic self-identity, and to earn economic benefits. In accordance, Palakaw is not simply the representation of cultural revitalization, but a symbol of social transformation.

 Thu Ba Huynh, MESc 2005

“Chra nap ka tiec ka rung la pra mong ang Co tu”: Values of forest resources represent the values of Co Tu people’s life

Thu Ba eating luch with her host familyin Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.

Location: Southeast Asia, Vietnam

In Vietnam as in many developing countries, there is an emerging interest in knowing to what extent and in what ways forest resources can contribute to poverty alleviation. Decollectivization of agriculture and allocation of land to individual households were critical to dramatic economic growth and poverty alleviation since the late 1980s in Vietnam. Forestland allocation is an important sub-component of this program. It is a radical policy shift involving devolution of forest management authority from the state to the local level. This research is an attempt to investigate the link between forestland allocation and its impacts on the household’s economy of Co Tu ethnic minority people in Tong Cooi village, Quang Nam Province of Vietnam.

Group discussion

The research findings indicate that forestland allocation has so far not enhanced local people’s livelihoods. The forestland which once provided common access and significant incomes (from logging) to Co Tu people is now allocated not to individual households but to the community as a whole. Logging is totally banned and only some NTFPs are allowed to be harvested. While this Co Tu community is facing with a difficult forest-delink transition, support to generate incomes from alternative sources has not been offered or provided by responsible authorities. The Quang Nam provincial authorities’ find themselves caught between the heavy pressure from the central government to speed up the allocation process and the increasing discontentment from local people. The irony is that provincial agencies responsible for allocating land and mapping out land-use strategy do not have the adequate capacity and human resource to properly carry out the work. Rights and responsibilities in relation to forest management remain unclear and a benefit sharing mechanism is not yet in place. In the midst of local politics, Co Tu people still express their aspiration and enthusiasm for the allocated land. However, most of the villagers are uncertain as what short-term future directions for making a living and the long-term landuse for the allocated forestland will be.