Yu-Chien Huang


Yu-Chien Huang entered: 2007 yh5x@virginia.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology Regional focus: Taiwan (Formosan Austronesians), Southeast Asia, Micronesia Topical interests: economic anthropology, kinship studies, symbolism, exchange theory, money, culture as objectification. My research interest starts with economic anthropology. Since conducting field research among the Yami people, a Western-Malayo speaking group on Orchid Island off Taiwan, for my master's thesis, I have been interested in exchange theory and cultural forms of objectification. If the objectifying tendency is embodied within a culture, how would the socio-cultural subject develop after it reabsorbs or re-appropriates commodities, self-alienating wage-labor, and new agents of modernity, such as the nation state and the church, etc.? Would traditional culturally-defined forms of objectification change or persist? Furthermore, in the case of the Yami, culture as objectification paved the way for the symbolizing process of money. That is, in the Yami culture, social relations are manifested in visible things, and even by words. Thus, every 'thing,' like a house, person, speech, and song, is the concretization of distinct relationships. It has made me wonder how 'money' becomes a common token of value in this culture in which social relations are relatively and distinctively objectified. As a doctoral student, I plan to examine the symbolizing process of money in two cultures: the Yami in Southeast Asia and the Yap in Micronesia. One is an egalitarian society; the other is a hierarchical one. The Yami was isolated by historical contingency and the Japanese colonial regime for hundreds of years; the Yap had an intricate tribute network among nearby islands which was interrupted by the German and Japanese occupation in the early twentieth century. By comparing the symbolizing process of money in these two cultures, I plan to explore the process in which money has become a common signifier of economy in a society, and what money signifies. 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) Publication: 2002 The Migrant Labor Force under the Uneven Regional Development-A Case Study in Wan-Jin Village, Pingtung County. Man and Culture (35, 36):146-166. (In Chinese) Presentations: 2006"Silent Competition: A Preliminary Research into The Spatial Expansion of Yami (Tao)'s Cement House." Paper presented at the conference on "Tradition and Innovation: Traditional Ceremonies and Cultural Change of Lanyu (Orchid Island)," Institute of Austronesian Studies, National Taitung University, Orchid Island, Taiwan, Oct 20-21. 2005 "Exchange and the Construction of Social Categories." Presented at Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct 5. 2004 "From Production to Exchange: An Investigation of the Yami (Tao)'s Economy." Paper presented at the workshop of training local fieldworkers, Eastern Taiwan Studies Association, Orchid Island, Taiwan, Nov 13.

entered: 2007
yh5x@virginia.edu

Sociocultural Anthropology

Regional focus: Taiwan (Formosan Austronesians), Southeast Asia, Micronesia

Topical interests: economic anthropology, kinship studies, symbolism, exchange theory, money, culture as objectification.

My research interest starts with economic anthropology. Since conducting field research among the Yami people, a Western-Malayo speaking group on Orchid Island off Taiwan, for my master's thesis, I have been interested in exchange theory and cultural forms of objectification. If the objectifying tendency is embodied within a culture, how would the socio-cultural subject develop after it reabsorbs or re-appropriates commodities, self-alienating wage-labor, and new agents of modernity, such as the nation state and the church, etc.? Would traditional culturally-defined forms of objectification change or persist? Furthermore, in the case of the Yami, culture as objectification paved the way for the symbolizing process of money. That is, in the Yami culture, social relations are manifested in visible things, and even by words. Thus, every 'thing,' like a house, person, speech, and song, is the concretization of distinct relationships. It has made me wonder how 'money' becomes a common token of value in this culture in which social relations are relatively and distinctively objectified.

As a doctoral student, I plan to examine the symbolizing process of money in two cultures: the Yami in Southeast Asia and the Yap in Micronesia. One is an egalitarian society; the other is a hierarchical one. The Yami was isolated by historical contingency and the Japanese colonial regime for hundreds of years; the Yap had an intricate tribute network among nearby islands which was interrupted by the German and Japanese occupation in the early twentieth century. By comparing the symbolizing process of money in these two cultures, I plan to explore the process in which money has become a common signifier of economy in a society, and what money signifies.

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)

Publication:

2002 The Migrant Labor Force under the Uneven Regional Development-A Case Study in Wan-Jin Village, Pingtung County. Man and Culture (35, 36):146-166. (In Chinese)

Presentations:

2006"Silent Competition: A Preliminary Research into The Spatial Expansion of Yami (Tao)'s Cement House." Paper presented at the conference on "Tradition and Innovation: Traditional Ceremonies and Cultural Change of Lanyu (Orchid Island)," Institute of Austronesian Studies, National Taitung University, Orchid Island, Taiwan, Oct 20-21.
2005 "Exchange and the Construction of Social Categories." Presented at Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct 5.
2004 "From Production to Exchange: An Investigation of the Yami (Tao)'s Economy." Paper presented at the workshop of training local fieldworkers, Eastern Taiwan Studies Association, Orchid Island, Taiwan, Nov 13.