原地發聲練習中的返本與還原：以原民廣播產學合作為例

Practice of Voicing for/from Indigeneity: Experience from National Indigenous Radio’s Industry-University Cooperation

本研究透過以聲音為主要訊息載體的廣播媒體，探討當代的大學原住民族青年透過空中聲線交織出的部分原民性（indigeneity）樣態，以及其中原民現身之返本與還原的形貌。具體而言，本研究以Alian FM 96.3原住民族廣播電臺與大學原住民族青年學子的產學合作經驗為例，將此例視為在真實社會情境裡媒體地景中的一場原青復返原民性的小型文化實驗，探討這場文化實驗中原住民族的現身與現聲，轉化出何種共同體的想像？這樣的想像又如何被原住民族青年「轉譯」給社會大眾？
本研究自2017年至2020年四年間陸續深度訪談上述產學合作計畫中的大學生成員，以訪談資料進行研究分析，探討大學原青透過廣播媒介在混雜的當代社會中，揉合傳統文化與社群記憶，締結出何種形式的當代原民性。研究發現，在「作為」（being）或「成為」（becoming）原住民族的廣播實踐中，原青一開始多半著重文化本真性展演，在如Clifford（2013／林徐達、梁永安譯，2017）所述地「持續被造出（be made）、打破（unmade）和再造（remade）」的歷程中，逐漸選擇性地取用傳統文化記憶揉合當代生活經驗，重構節目內容，同時也還原自己。

This research takes radio as an example to explore a relocating indigeneity in the experience from a national indigenous radio’s industry-university cooperation. Specifically, as an example it uses the radio’s industry-university cooperation between indigenous undergraduate students in higher education and the first ever national indigenous radio station, Alian FM 96.3, to raise the question of whether the practice of voicing by indigenous youth is capable of bridging the past to the future for the young generation of indigenous peoples in Taiwan.
Alian FM 96.3, under supervision of Indigenous People’s Cultural Foundation (IPCF), was launched in 2017 to provide broader media access for more than 90% of indigenous tribes in Taiwan. Among the various tribes with different languages and culture, Alian FM 96.3 is actually facing an uncharacteristic challenge of shaping an on-air common ground for all indigenous peoples in Taiwan. This study argues that the uncharacteristic challenge that Alian FM 96.3 is facing actually makes it a unique case to not only illuminate relocating indigeneity in the political struggles with the state and in the internal tensions of indigenous groups, but also, following Homi Bhabha (1994)’s perspective on hybridity, to provide a singular insight into hybridized indigeneity in Taiwan.
As a nationwide indigenous radio, the establishment of Alian FM 96.3 is key to solving the problematic media representation and poor media access of indigenous peoples in the mainstream media landscape as well as key to the future of their cultural revitalization in Taiwan. Benedict Anderson (2006)’s concept is about imagined communities that furthermore help indigenous peoples to“return,”as James Clifford (2013) argues, from mainstream society back to a path of“becoming indigenous”to deliver their heritage, languages, and traditional knowledge under current and future conditions.
In 2017 there were two serious issues identified in the programming of Alian FM 96.3 by the CEO of IPCF, Yedda Palemeq (2017, November). The first issue was that indigenous radio presenters, who have radio expertise and are also fluent in indigenous language, are very rare in Taiwan. The second issue is inevitably using Mandarin Chinese as a lingual franca. Thus, radio programming has to compromise with 40% indigenous languages and 60% Mandarin Chinese.
With the concern over the scarcity of indigenous radio presenters, one solution is industry-university cooperation between radio and higher education. Such cooperation is expected to not only present the indigenous young generation with fresh perspectives, but also to cultivate young indigenous radio talents in different local tribes by collaborating with local resources. Among all kinds of programming on Alian FM 96.3, this study chooses to focus on the program of industry-university cooperation since this approach of radio production incorporates, as Lester-Irabinna Rigney (2021) argues, a potential shift in indigenous students from knowledge consumers in the education system to competent knowledge producers.
Alian FM 96.3 has cooperated with indigenous undergraduate students in higher education since 2017, gaining a strong good reputation for both sides. Taking National Dong Hwa University in Hualien for example, in 2018 its radio show,“What Indigenous Youth Really Want,”produced by indigenous students from the Indigenous College, was nominated for the Golden Bell Award, which is an annual television and radio production award presented by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan.
Utilizing industry-university cooperation as a cultural experiment of“return”of indigenous youth in the media landscape of Taiwan, this study explores what kind of community imagination has been transformed and how such an imagination has been translated to the general public by indigenous youth. From 2017 to 2020, this study conducted in-depth interviews with youths on the production team of the program“What Indigenous Youth Really Want”at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien. This study investigates various ways of articulation, performance, and translation, which are three terms James Clifford (2013) often relies on to approach the complexity of contemporary indigeneity, to identify possible forms of contemporary indigeneity interwoven by the voices of these youths in industry-university cooperation.
Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with team members in the industry-university cooperation, various organizing concepts have been collected through coding and qualitatively scrutinized by reflective thematic analysis. A composition of 4 main themes from the in-depth interviews is found as follows: Theme 1. Identifying the targeted audience; Theme 2. Shaping the on-air imagined community; Theme 3. Selecting subjects and materials for the radio show; and Theme 4. Reframing the ways of becoming indigenous.
The findings of this study illustrate the radio practice helps assist the indigenous youths to rethink about“becoming indigenous”within a process of“being made, unmade, and remade,”as James Cifford (2013) argues. In the process, these youths have gradually given up performing intensively as authentic indigenous subjects themselves. Instead of intensifying the authenticity of indigenous cultural identity, they have blended more of their own real-life experiences from contemporary society into the radio practice. This process has reframed the subjects and content of the radio program as well as the viewpoint of“becoming indigenous”. This study concludes by asking if the radio practice of voicing for/from indigeneity is capable of providing singular insight into indigeneity in Taiwan under current and future conditions.