Hope Talk
希望講堂
Into the Community: Gender, Community, and Power in Indigenous Societies of Eastern and Southern Taiwan
走進部落－從性別、社群與權力看東台灣與南台灣原住民社會
Aug 29
8月29日
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
About the Program
During her 26 years at the National Museum of Prehistory, Sung-En LIN (Senayan) has worked closely with Indigenous communities across eastern and southern Taiwan. In this lecture, she shares what she has learned through years of collaboration and friendship, reflecting on the intersections of gender, community, and power through lived experiences rather than academic theory.
Drawing from her time with the Pinuyumayan (Puyuma), Pangcah (Amis), and Paiwan peoples, Sung-En explores how Indigenous traditions continue to evolve in contemporary society. Among the Pinuyumayan, she reflects on the enduring significance of the Palakuwan men's house and the misaur millet fields, where community values, responsibility, and mutual care continue to be practiced even as traditional ways of life change. As a member of a women's association in a Pinuyumayan community, she shares her own experiences of learning these traditions from within.
She also introduces the story of the Pangcah (Amis) people and the legacy of the Cikasuan Battle, in which an entire community was displaced during Japanese colonial rule. Through conversations with community members—including one collaborator who only discovered his family's connection to Cikasuan during museum fieldwork—she reflects on how age-group traditions (selal) continue to connect younger generations across dispersed communities today.
Finally, through her long-term collaboration with Paiwan community leader angusan and his wife tju'u in Laiyi Township, Pingtung, Sung-En examines how traditional leadership, kinship, and cultural responsibilities continue to shape Paiwan society. Their shared efforts in community documentation, exhibitions, and the revitalization of Paiwan hand-tattoo traditions reveal both the meaning and the challenges of sustaining cultural leadership in the present day.
Rather than speaking on behalf of Indigenous communities, this lecture is a reflection on the relationships she has built over decades of learning alongside friends. It is a story of mutual trust, shared experiences, and the lifelong journey of growing together across cultures.
Since joining the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung at the turn of the millennium, Sung-En has devoted herself to working alongside Indigenous communities in eastern Taiwan. Deeply moved by the people, places, and stories that matter to her Indigenous friends, she is always looking for ways to contribute—both on and off the job.
She enjoys organizing youth camps that help Indigenous young people reconnect with their cultural heritage, while also introducing urban students to life in Indigenous communities. She believes in the importance of documenting local histories and sees exhibitions as a powerful way to share stories that might otherwise go untold.
Sung-En loves learning languages, exploring local cuisines, and practicing Pinuyumayan songs, believing that singing together gives people strength. Over the past three years, she has unexpectedly found herself immersed in organizing cultural festivals and international exchanges. She believes that both Indigenous peoples and Han communities in Taiwan have an important role to play in strengthening connections across the Pacific. Her current focus is completing a documentary that captures the encounters and exchanges between Indigenous communities in Sabah and Taiwan.
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TAIWANfest Toronto is grateful to be held on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, that is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We acknowledge our privilege to be gathered here, and commit to work with and be respectful to the Indigenous peoples of this land while we engage in meaningful conversations of culture and reconciliation.