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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.

Omar Pérez: Submarine Roots, Resisting (un)natural disasters

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I am interested in seeing how social ties and networks have been used to cope with (un)natural disasters. My research focus on places under disasters conditions such as Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, in which social ties have made the difference between life and death. Furthermore, “natural” disaster has been used to approved austerity measures and unjust policies to impoverished communities like in New Orleans after Katrina. These policies were not new, as they are rooted in structures of power to preserve the status quo. Yet, people have resisted, “through a network of branches, cultures, and geographies” that has stimulated a reflective process of looking within for solutions rather than outside. As often this outside solutions are not only detached from community’s reality but can perpetuate social injustices and inequalities.

McKittrick, K., & Woods, C. A. (Eds.). (2007). Black geographies and the politics of place. South End Press.

Bullard, R. D., & Wright, B. (Eds.). (2009). Race, place, and environmental justice after Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to reclaim, rebuild, and revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Westview Press.