Explaining variations in the persistence of ethnic identity: Comparing Plains Aborigines in two Taiwanese communities (China)

Taiwanese Plains Aborigines were still recorded as an ethnic group in official household records in 1934, but many contemporary scholars argue that Plains Aborigines have been assimilated, and most Taiwanese have been ignorant of the existence of Plains Aborigines. Some scholars even argue that the Plains Aborigines in documented Plains Aborigine communities had firmly identified themselves as Hans in the 1990s, and most people had been unaware of the existence of Plains Aborigines in their community.; This study includes both exploratory and explanatory objectives. In the exploratory aspect, I explored whether there were still Plains Aborigines today, and examined whether people knew of the existence of Plains Aborigines. In the explanatory aspect, I attempted to explain what factors led to the erosion of Plains Aborigine identity, if Plains Aborigines were truly assimilated. I delimited my research area to southwestern Taiwan. Two documented rural Plains Aborigine communities, Baksia and Osuann (pseudonyms), both with significant numbers of expected Plains Aborigines, were selected for the case study. I used mixed methods, including survey and in-depth interviews, to collect data. In total, 230 respondents were interviewed. I used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze my data.; I found that self-identified Plains Aborigines still existed in both sites, and most respondents knew about the existence of Plains Aborigines. However, there was significant inter-village variation. About 71% of the expected Plains Aborigines in Baksia retained their identity, while only 38.5% of those in Osuann retained their identity. According to my regression analysis, I found that typical surnames, affiliation with Christianity, and sex had significant effects on people's ethnic identification. Contrary to the public belief, however, affiliation with Plains Aborigine religion was not associated with ethnic identification. As to the factors leading to inter-village variation, I found that stronger external antagonism, stronger ethnic commitment, stronger ethnic leadership, positive discourse about Plains Aborigine religion, weaker exposure to Christianity, weaker intermarriage, and concentrated residence pattern were factors that led to greater persistence of Plains Aborigine identity in Baksia. The opposite condition of these factors led to a steeper erosion of Plains Aborigine identity in Osuann.