The Colonial Palimpsest in Taiwan Indigenous Literature: An Example of Syaman Rapongan's Writing

Syaman Rapongan's ethnographic and decolonial writing style, along with the palimpsestic displacement of his geographic space and national identity, generates peculiar oceanic characteristics in his works. The elements of national essentialism, creole language strategy, a repetitive narrative, Tao mythological capital, and primitive habitus embedded in his writing, not only weaken but also challenge the long-established aesthetic convention in Han literary field in Taiwan. In this essay, through Rapongan's writing, the colonial palimpsest of Taiwan literature is investigated. The essay also discusses how the first-narrative (rather than the third-narrative) of the indigenes is achieved from the transitions of the Qing governance, Japanese Rule, and the KMT Rule. Rapongan's layered profile and his palimpsestic decolonial strategies are demonstrated. After returning to the Tao Island, his mobilization of Tao habitus and various Tao capital is also discussed. Finally, in terms of Taiwan's special context, the essay finds out that his Tao strategy in the pursuit of national glory even reverses the concept of Bourdieu's theory of Hysteresis.

關鍵字

Syaman Rapongan ； Colonial Palimpsest ； Postcolonialism ； Pierre Bourdieu ； Taiwan Indigenous Literature

並列摘要

夏曼‧藍波安的民族誌暨抵殖書寫風格，以及他重層的地理空間與身份認同的移動與回歸，塑造出一種特異的海洋文學特色。其民族本質主義（national essentialism）色彩、克里奧式（creole）的語言策略、達悟族神話資本與原初慣習，以及重複式的敘事風格，削弱並挑戰台灣漢語文學場域的美學典範。本文藉由夏曼．藍波安的書寫討論台灣原住民文學的殖民重層。首先討論台灣原住民論述自清領、日治、戰後國民黨統治，如何從第三人稱敘事，轉變成第一人稱敘事。接著討論夏曼．藍波安的重層背景以及他對重層殖民的抵抗敘事及其差異。並觀察夏曼．藍波安自台灣返回蘭嶼後，達悟慣習（habitus）暨傳統達悟民族的各種資本如何成為藍波安的生命與書寫主軸。而此追索達悟族民族榮光的策略，如何反轉並修正布爾迪厄的滯後現象（hysteresis）理論，與台灣文學脈絡產生連結。