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FIELDNOTE_0426_NALUWAN_CHARMAINE

We had a very engaging time this week at Naluwan with our grandmas. Together with the grandmas, we made seashell hanging ornaments using the shells we collected last week.

Reflection on how Place can be Preserved for Generations to Come

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Interesting how you managed to discover the Amis language connection to Malay, further connection to Austronesian, and the similarities the language has to other Asian languages. I also liked your posed questions, which are in line with what I am concerned about after reading your piece. I remembered posing such a similar question to my Ahma, regarding whether there would be a loss of culture as the younger generation starts to live far away from their original hometown, Taitung. She mentioned that the younger generation here in Naluwan, Hsinchu are working hard to continue to uphold the Amis culture and roots in their new "home". So hopefully for generations to come, the Amis people will not lose their heritage, and not forget their original roots.

Fieldnote_0322_Naluwan_Charmaine

Listening to the passing trains slowly accelerating away made me excited for what was to come in Naluwan. Arriving at Xiangshan station was a whole new feeling, it was peaceful.

Fieldnote_0329_Naluwan_Charmaine

When we first arrived at the Naluwan tribe in Hsinchu, we were just in time to join in with the elderly of the tribe, at what seemed their morning exercise.

Mutual Aid/Best Practices vs Local Practices

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This image reminds me of how mutual aid and communities keep each other fed, and safe, and how local practices are actually best practices. My own research, although not immediatley related to the specific public health concern of COVID, will focus on Indigenous food soverignty, particularly the right and autonomy to ferment and distribute alcohol (紅糯米酒) within the Amis community, and their current fight with the local health department on declaring whether or not their alcohol is "safe" for public consumption and distribution.