Digital Anthropology and the Renewal of Waishengren Studies: From Digitized Tombs to Identity Claims
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2011.-15.2.21-45Keywords:
Taiwan, Waishengren, funeral practices, tombstone archive, digital anthropologyAbstract
In this study we illustrate the potential contribution of digital archives to the study of variation among Taiwan’s Waishengren. Using the digital archive ThakBong of gravesites in Taiwan, into which the census data of 1956 have been merged, we show thatWaishengren varied in their practices and their social structure from North to South and through time in yet unobserved patterns. Our interpretation is that Waishengren assimilated and potentially even merged into existing Holo communities in the South, while in the
North, Waishengren developed social distinctions through these practices to reflect power and ethnicity. Regional distinctions will thus be central in future Waishengren-studies.
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Bieber, Michael, Vitali, Fabio, Ashman, Helen, Balasubramanian, V. and Oinas-Kukkonen, Harri. 1997. “Fourth Generation Hypermedia: Some Missing Links for the World Wide Web.” International Journal of Human Computer Studies 47(1): 31–65.
Chen, Shao-hsing, and Fried, Morton. H. 1967. The Distribution of Family Names in Taiwan. Taipei, Taiwan: National Taiwan University.
Chung, Sue Fawn, and Wegars, Priscilla. 2005. Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.
Corcuff, Stéphane. 2002. “Taiwan’s ‘Mainlanders’: New Taiwanese?” In Memories of the Future: National Identity Issues and the Search for a New Taiwan, edited by St. Corcuff, 163–195. Taiwan in the Modern World. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Crawley, Michael J. 2007. The R Book. Chichester, England: Wiley.
Gates, Hill. 1981. “Ethnicity and Social Class.” In The Anthropology of Taiwanese Society, edited by E. M. Ahern and H. Gates, 241–281. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Genet, Jean-Philippe, and Zorzi, Andrea, eds. 2011. Les historiens et l'informatique. Un métier à réinventer. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome.
Hu, Tai-li. 1989. “Ethnic Identity and Social Condition of Veteran Mainlanders in Taiwan.” Revue européenne des sciences sociales 27(84): 253–265.
Li, Tung-ming 李棟明. 1970. “Ju Tai waishengji renkou zucheng yu fenbu.” 居台外省籍人口組成與分佈 (“Population and Distribution of Mainlanders Living in Taiwan.”) Taiwan Documents 11/12: 62–86.
Moretti, Franco. 2005. Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for Literary History. London: Verso.
Romesburg, Charles H. 2004. Cluster Analysis for Researchers. North Carolina, USA: Lulu Press.
Scott, Simon. 2006. “Taiwan’s Mainlanders: A Diasporic Identity in Construction.” Revue européenne des migrations internationales 22(1): 87–108.
Streiter, Oliver, Lin, Ann Meifang, Yen, Sandy Ke-rui, Hsu, Ellen, Wang, Yawei, and Goudin, Yoann. 2009. “Place Names on Taiwan’s Tombstones: Facts, Figures, Theories.” In Workshop on the Relationship between the Distribution of Languages or Dialects in Taiwan and Racial Migration. Hualian, Taiwan: National Taichung University of Education.
Streiter, Oliver, Goudin, Yoann, and Lin, Ann Meifang. 2010a. “An Archeological View on Bentuhua: Taiwan’s Tombstones in a Historical Perspective.” In Seventh Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). Tübingen, Germany: EATS.
Streiter, Oliver, Goudin, Yoann, Huang, Chun (Jimmy), Lin, Ann Meifang, and Jui Yen, Sandy Ko. 2010b. “Places of Shared Histories: Spatial Patterns of Placename Types on Taiwan’s Tombstones.” In GeoInformatics for Spatial-Infrastructure Development in Earth and Allied Sciences (GIS-IDEAS), 29–34. Hanoi, Vietnam: Japan-Vietnam Geoinformatics Consortium.
Streiter, Oliver, Goudin, Yoann, Huang, Chun (Jimmy), and Lin, Ann Meifang. 2011. (Forthcoming) “Last Name, Last Claim. Matching Digital Tombstone Documentation to Unearthed Census Data: Surveying Taiwan’s Family Names, Ethnicities and Homelands.” In Special Issue of International Journal of Humanities and Art Computing.
Vollmer, Gerhard. 1975. Evolutionäre Erkenntnistheorie. Stuttgart: Hirzel.
Wang, Fu-chang 王甫昌. 2005. “You ‘Zhongguo shengji’ dao ‘Taiwan zuqun’: hukou pucha jibie leishu zhuanbian zhi fenxi.” 由「中國省籍」到「台灣族群」：戶口普查籍別類屬轉變之分析 (“From Chinese Original Domicile to Taiwanese Ethnicity: An analysis of Census Category Transformation in Taiwan.”) Taiwan shehuixue 9: 59–117.
Wang, Fu-chang 王甫昌. 2008. “You ruoyin ruoxian dao daming dafang: Taiwan shehuixue zhong zuqun yanjiu de jueqi.” 由若隱若現到大鳴大放：台灣社會學中族群研究的崛起. (“From Obscurity to Fanfare: The Rise of Ethnic Studies in Taiwan’s Sociology.”) Taipei: Qunxue.
Watson, James L. 1988. “Preface.” In Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, edited by J. L. Watson and E. S. Rawski, ix–xv. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Yang, Dominic Meng-Hsuan, and Chang, Mau-kuei. 2010. “Understanding the Waishengren Nuances: History and Agency.” China Perspectives 3: 108–122.
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Published
1. 12. 2011
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Articles
How to Cite
Goudin, Yoann, Oliver Streiter, Jimmy Chun Huang, and Ann Meifang Lin. 2011. “Digital Anthropology and the Renewal of Waishengren Studies: From Digitized Tombs to Identity Claims”. Asian Studies -15 (2): 21-45. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2011.-15.2.21-45.
