REBUILDING MAMA'S HOUSE-AN ETHNOHISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION AND HOMECOMING OF THE BUNUN ON TAIWAN

Abstract

This study is the ethnography of three members of an indigenous Bunun family on Taiwan. In 1941, during the Japanese occupation era, the family was forced to abandon their home. The research moved to conceptually reconstruct their domicile through in-depth interviews followed by a 19-day mountaineering expedition to the remote village of Takivahlas in the Laipunuk region. The research reveals four stages of indigenous adaptation and reconstruction over time as access to knowledge and new resources became available. Ultimately, the study pinpoints the severity and outcome of foreign cultural incursion and sheds light on the cultural revival and homecoming of the Bunun with the house as a point of contact with the past_; it serves to reconcile the past with the present to produce a lasting story and insight to Bunun epistemology and heritage for English readers.