Yu-Chien Huang


Yu-Chien Huang entered: 2007 yh5x@virginia.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology Regional focus: Yap, Taiwan (Formosan Austronesians), Micronesia, Western Pacific and South-east Asia. Topical interests: Symbolism, gender, kinship, hierarchy and equality, exchange and personhood, social life of food. I am interested in the persistence/transformation of hierarchy in contemporary Yap (Wa'ab) in Micronesia. By investigating the alternating contour of food production and consumption while also questioning how this shifting contour possibly influences the persistence of Yapese hierarchy, I aim to test two hypotheses within my dissertation project. First, the previous research on various manifestations of Yap hierarchy indicates that food segregation is one of the distinctive markers of Yapese culture-most notably eating grade (yogum). That is, men are classified into different groupings according to the tabinaw ("house estate") from which they come, their age, and their contribution to the community. Therefore, my first hypothesis is as follows: Food serves as the center of the compound that stabilizes the current hierarchy, represents the ideational separation between the tabugul ("pure") and ta'ay ("impure") in people's daily practice, and encodes segregation into people's bodily substance. My second hypothesis regarding the persistence/alteration of Yapese hierarchy is derived from the puzzle of Yap kinship as well as the well-known regional characteristic of Micronesia-matrilineality and its various manifestations. Micronesia has long been understood as a "sea of matrilineality," in which matrilineal groupings are foundational to daily social life. In earlier kinship studies, Yap is recognized for the difficulty researchers face in classifying it as patrilineal, matrilineal, or both (in different aspects of society). It is also known for its multifaceted ownerships, specifically concerning the father's sister's authority over her brothers' heirs in their land. Furthermore, as researchers have noted, secrecy is inherent in the fragmented and privately controlled nature of Yapese knowledge, among which secrecy of one's matrilineality has played a significant part. Hence, my second hypothesis is as follows: The secrecy of matrilineality can possibly be conducive to anchoring hierarchy in Yap. In the work of my dissertation project, I intend to unravel how the shifting codes of conducts-the ways of handling food-possibly alternate the substances people ingest and might consequently transform people's bodily configuration. Those possibilities have been shrouded under the blanket of secretiveness-less visible, less verbalized, but highly gendered daily practice. Thus, I am specifically concerned with the gendered experience of the "social life" of food. Bearing the interest of investigating gender relations that ground hierarchy but are encompassed by it; focusing on the shifting paths of how food is produced, consumed, and signified; and delving into the Yapese understanding of "matrilineality" -whether it is secretive or not and why, as well as its role in substantiating hierarchy-my research aims to accentuate the gendered experience of Yapese daily life, an important aspect less explored by previous researchers. MA Paper: (2010): Substantial Kin, Insubstantial Life: Substance, Property and House among the Yami. Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees: MA, BA, Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University MA Thesis (2005): 'Exchange' and 'Individualism:' A Case Study at Ivalinu, Lanyu (Orchid Island). Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University. (In Chinese) Publications: 2010 - Reconsidering "Exchange" in Ivalinu, Lanyu. Journal of Eastern Taiwan Studies 14: 3-52. (In Chinese) 2002 - The Migrant Labor Power in the Uneven Regional Development: A Case Study of Wan-Jin Village in Pingtung County. Man and Culture (35, 36):146-166. (In Chinese)

entered: 2007
yh5x@virginia.edu

Sociocultural Anthropology

Regional focus: Yap, Taiwan (Formosan Austronesians), Micronesia, Western Pacific and South-east Asia.

Topical interests: Symbolism, gender, kinship, hierarchy and equality, exchange and personhood, social life of food.

I am interested in the persistence/transformation of hierarchy in contemporary Yap (Wa'ab) in Micronesia. By investigating the alternating contour of food production and consumption while also questioning how this shifting contour possibly influences the persistence of Yapese hierarchy, I aim to test two hypotheses within my dissertation project.

First, the previous research on various manifestations of Yap hierarchy indicates that food segregation is one of the distinctive markers of Yapese culture-most notably eating grade (yogum). That is, men are classified into different groupings according to the tabinaw ("house estate") from which they come, their age, and their contribution to the community. Therefore, my first hypothesis is as follows: Food serves as the center of the compound that stabilizes the current hierarchy, represents the ideational separation between the tabugul ("pure") and ta'ay ("impure") in people's daily practice, and encodes segregation into people's bodily substance.

My second hypothesis regarding the persistence/alteration of Yapese hierarchy is derived from the puzzle of Yap kinship as well as the well-known regional characteristic of Micronesia-matrilineality and its various manifestations. Micronesia has long been understood as a "sea of matrilineality," in which matrilineal groupings are foundational to daily social life. In earlier kinship studies, Yap is recognized for the difficulty researchers face in classifying it as patrilineal, matrilineal, or both (in different aspects of society). It is also known for its multifaceted ownerships, specifically concerning the father's sister's authority over her brothers' heirs in their land. Furthermore, as researchers have noted, secrecy is inherent in the fragmented and privately controlled nature of Yapese knowledge, among which secrecy of one's matrilineality has played a significant part. Hence, my second hypothesis is as follows: The secrecy of matrilineality can possibly be conducive to anchoring hierarchy in Yap.

In the work of my dissertation project, I intend to unravel how the shifting codes of conducts-the ways of handling food-possibly alternate the substances people ingest and might consequently transform people's bodily configuration. Those possibilities have been shrouded under the blanket of secretiveness-less visible, less verbalized, but highly gendered daily practice. Thus, I am specifically concerned with the gendered experience of the "social life" of food. Bearing the interest of investigating gender relations that ground hierarchy but are encompassed by it; focusing on the shifting paths of how food is produced, consumed, and signified; and delving into the Yapese understanding of "matrilineality" -whether it is secretive or not and why, as well as its role in substantiating hierarchy-my research aims to accentuate the gendered experience of Yapese daily life, an important aspect less explored by previous researchers.

MA Paper: (2010): Substantial Kin, Insubstantial Life: Substance, Property and House among the Yami.

Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees:

MA, BA, Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University

MA Thesis (2005): 'Exchange' and 'Individualism:' A Case Study at Ivalinu, Lanyu (Orchid Island). Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University. (In Chinese)

Publications:

2010 - Reconsidering "Exchange" in Ivalinu, Lanyu. Journal of Eastern Taiwan Studies 14: 3-52. (In Chinese)
2002 - The Migrant Labor Power in the Uneven Regional Development: A Case Study of Wan-Jin Village in Pingtung County. Man and Culture (35, 36):146-166. (In Chinese)