Isle of the Austronesian: Indigeneity, World-Making and Taiwan
edited by Chang Ti-Han and Hsieh Hsin-Chin
Isle of the Austronesian: Indigeneity, World-Making and Taiwan brings together powerful literary and scholarly voices to explore the dynamic contours of Indigeneity in Taiwan. This anthology features poetry, stories, and essays that reflect on land, memory, identity, and ecological belongings. Highlighting perspectives often overlooked-queer, urban, and female Indigenous experiences-it showcases the richness and diversity of Taiwan’s Indigenous cultures. Writers such as Salizan Takisvilainan, Ahronglong Sakinu, Syaman Rapongan, Ma Yi-Hang, Apyang Imiq, and Liglav A-wu offer narratives rooted in both tradition and transformation. This anthology reimagines Taiwan not just as an East Asian society but as an oceanic and Austronesian world-making space, where Indigenous voices lead conversations on history, sovereignty, and cultural renewal.
About the Editors
Ti-Han Chang was a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) and the course lead of BA(Hons) Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Her research focusses on the contemporary eco-literature in Taiwan and its implications in the Asia Pacific region. Ti-han is particularly interested in postcolonial ecocriticism, which draws her attention to topics such as nonhuman agency, borders and nations, climate change, and migration. At UCLan, she was the deputy director at the Centre of Austronesian Studies (COAST), and further contributed her research works through the Northern Institute of Taiwan Studies (NorITS) and the Centre for Migration, Diaspora and Exile (MIDEX). Externally, Ti-han serves as a board member of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). In the past, she also served as a treasurer of the Francophone Association of Taiwan Studies (AFET). Her recent publications include two co-edited volumes, A Transdisciplinary Study of Global Displacement: Identities on the Move (Springer, 2024) and Reorientating Taiwan: Ocean, Selfhood and the Pacific (Brill, 2025).
Hsin-Chin Hsieh is Associate Professor in the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature at National Taiwan University. Before joining NTU, she taught at Wesleyan University in the U.S. and at the National Taipei University of Education in Taiwan. She has served as Secretary-General of the Association for Taiwan Literature and was a visiting scholar at the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan at the University of Tübingen in Germany. She is also a member of the editorial board for The Cambria Sinophone Translation Series and has guest-edited issues for the Journal of Chinese Cinemas and Taiwan Lit. Her research interests include contemporary Taiwan literature, film and documentary studies, migration studies, film adaptation, and transmedia narrative. Her work particularly examines the relationship between contemporary cultural production and migration—both inbound and outbound—in the context of Taiwan. She is the co-editor of The Afterlives of Taiwan Literature (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Press, 2023).
Published in collaboration with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Science and Technology Council, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, and National Taiwan University.
ISBN: 978-1-913891-62-6
Imprint: Balestier Academic
Publication date: 31 August 2025
Format: Paperback 229mm x 152mm
Pages: 136 pp
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Synopsis
Isle of the Austronesian: Indigeneity, World-Making and Taiwan brings together powerful literary and scholarly voices to explore the dynamic contours of Indigeneity in Taiwan. This anthology features poetry, stories, and essays that reflect on land, memory, identity, and ecological belongings. Highlighting perspectives often overlooked-queer, urban, and female Indigenous experiences-it showcases the richness and diversity of Taiwan’s Indigenous cultures. Writers such as Salizan Takisvilainan, Ahronglong Sakinu, Syaman Rapongan, Ma Yi-Hang, Apyang Imiq, and Liglav A-wu offer narratives rooted in both tradition and transformation. This anthology reimagines Taiwan not just as an East Asian society but as an oceanic and Austronesian world-making space, where Indigenous voices lead conversations on history, sovereignty, and cultural renewal.
Contents
Preface
A Thousand Words across the Miles: A Taiwanese Knowledge Experiment Huang Chun-Ju
Two Forms of Knowledge, One Act of Reading: The Convergence of Academic Research and Literary Creation Su Shuo-Bin
Introduction
Narrating the Isle: Indigeneity and the Remapping of Taiwanese Literature Chang Ti-Han and Hsieh Hsin-Chin
A Concerto of Identities: A Brief History of Ethnic Consciousness among Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples Sun Ta-Chuan (Paelabang Danapan). Adapted by Zhang Yi-Wen. Translated by Amanda Ruiqing Flynn
From the Moment We Parted Ways ~ Austronesian beneath the Southern Cross by Salizan Takisvilainan. Translated by Catherine Xinxin Yu
The Light and Shade of the Mountain Forests: The History of Land Use in Taiwan’s Mountainous Areas Kuan Da-Wei (Daya). Adapted by Tsai Yi-Chen. Translated by Aoife Cantrill
The Wind Walker by Ahronglong Sakinu. Translated by Wang Jo-Hsuan
Sailing Towards the Austronesian World Chen Chih-Fan. Adapted by Lin Chi-Han. Translated by Wang Jo-Hsuan
The Dorado’s Spirit by Syaman Rapongan. Translated by Kyle Shernuk
Where is Our Refuge? The Plight of Queer Indigenous People in Cities and in Their Communities Ciwang Teyra, Huang Chao-Kai and Hsieh Wan-Rong. Adapted by Chang Hao-Tang. Translated by Aoife Cantrill
The Teacher’s Village by Ma Yi-Hang. Translated by Eleanor Goodman
Tminum Yaku, Weaving and Me by Apyang Imiq. Translated by Eleanor Goodman
The Journey of Indigenous Women Yang Tsui. Adapted by Ring Anchi. Translated by Amanda Ruiqing Flynn
My Mother’s Juancun Days by Liglav A-wu. Translated by Catherine Xinxin Yu
