The lost lily: State, sociocultural change and the decline of hunting culture in Kaochapogan, Taiwan

This thesis explores the process of transformation in the utilization of local resources and conducts a historical inspection of the hunting culture of the Kochapogan, an aboriginal village located in the southern Taiwan, from the point of view of political ecology and environmental anthropology. In essence, this study shows that prior to the interference from the power of a state, a tribe is the largest unit in politics and a chieftain is the most important political leader as well as plays the center role in the distribution of resources; but once a state interferes, the traditional customs and habits of resource distribution are bound to be altered by the interference.;In this research, we can see that the changes in the hunting culture of the Kochapogan had been triggered mainly by intervention from external forces, especially the land nationalization policy and the practice of agricultural-orientation during the Japanese colonialism not only restricted the ranges of the farmlands and the hunting grounds, but also had a direct impact on the traditional structure of system of lands for the Rekai tribes. In addition, the policy of land measurement in the 1960s during the period of KMT rule started a trend of land privatization. It not only established the concept of family property, but also changed the rules of claiming rights to hunting grounds and the custom of prey distribution that were important elements in the traditional hunting culture of Kochapogan. Moreover, the implementation of conservation laws and regulations since 1980 has significantly limited the practices of the traditional activities of production such as hunting and gathering. Because of the legal prohibitions, the hunting activities were no longer a path to glory for the male members of the tribes. Once hunting is no longer a symbol of glory, the hunters become more reluctant to bring out their prey and share with the rest of the village. Therefore, the culture of wearing lily flowers has slowly disappeared into time.