當神話變成了歷史──1990年代台灣原住民族歷史建構與文化政治

When Myth Becomes History: Construction of History and Cultural Politics of the Indigenous People in Taiwan in the 1990s

本文透過當代台灣原住民族的族群史著作，一方面觀察原住民族從「口述言說」到「文字書寫」的歷史觀之轉變，是如何重新記憶、表述與建構「現在的過去」（the past in the present）；另一方面，則是想要去思考原住民族「神話」與「歷史」之間的辯證關係，嘗試從「口述傳統」（oral tradition）的去脈絡化、再脈絡化與文本化的「脈絡性轉換」（contextual turn）過程，來回應Claude Lévi-Strauss所提出的「當神話變成了歷史」這個命題。尤其自1990年代開始，不只官方單位積極推動「台灣原住民史」計畫的修纂、撰述與出版，許多原住民知識分子也在回歸部落的復振過程中，逐漸意識到歷史建構對於族群認同及主體確立的重要性。然而，當國家文化政策通過文化政治（cultural politics）的命名權力，全面扶助地方或族群文史的構成時，我們不禁要追問的是這樣的「台灣原住民史」計畫究竟是如何選材、製造與使用「過去」的？更重要的是，「口述傳統」的去脈絡化、再脈絡化與文本化，致使它不再只是部落日常生活、祭典儀式的社會活動與文化實踐，甚至與「傳統」也產生相當大的斷裂；但是，這卻也更有機會選擇性地「重構」族群文化肌理，以神話或歷史的「溯源」來召喚根基性的情感連繫。或許，這就是台灣原住民族在面對當代歷史建構與文化政治時，必須不斷自我辯證的難題。

This paper aims to analyze the contemporary works of the history of the indigenouspeople in Taiwan. On the one hand, the author examines the transformation ofhistorical vicissitude from “oral tradition” to “written text” to show how “the past in thepresent” is re-memorized, presented, and constructed. On the other hand, the authorexplores the dialectical relationship between “myth” and “history.” As the title implies,this paper draws a theoretical response to the well-known book chapter, “When MythBecomes History,” by Claude Levi-Strauss. Not only the government departments havecoordinated the writing, revising, and publishing projects of “history of the indigenouspeople in Taiwan” actively, but also the indigenous intellectuals have realized the importanceof construction of history, which plays an inevitable role in the subject matterof racial identities and subjectivity when they went back to revive the tribes since the1990s. Nevertheless, how “the past” is selected, created, and quoted when the governmentdepartments intervene tactfully in the projects of “history of the indigenouspeople in Taiwan” in “cultural politics” terms? A crucial point that the author wants tomake concerns the de-contextualization, re-contextualization, and textualization of “oraltradition.” This triangulation has ruptured the tradition of socio-cultural meanings andtheir practices of the rituals and everyday life in tribes. Meanwhile, this rupture might“reconstruct” the cultural roots and ancestral depth of emotion of the indigenous people with an “origin” of myth or history. The author believes that the argument mentionedabove is a dialectical process concerning with historical construction and cultural politicsfor the indigenous people in Taiwan.