In the Shadow of National Glory: Taiwan Aboriginal Baseball in the Politics of Identity

Abstract

Described as ‘a laboratory of identities’, Taiwan is a society divided by both ethnicity and national identity. There are four major groups in the island: Taiwan aborigines (2%), Mainlander (13%), Hakka (12%) and Holo (73%). As the national sport in this multi-ethnic society, surrounding by flourished studies of nationalism and identity, Baseball used to play an important role in the national project of identity construction or nation building. However, although they were the earliest group on the island, and were heavily involved in baseball, their absence in related discourses is rather conspicuous. Utilising discursive analysis and oral history, therefore, this study intends to (re) contextualise aborigines in the nexus of baseball history and identity politics. It revealed the dichotomy of Han-nationalism being embedded in the field of sport and the neglects of ethnic hierarchy and Han-aboriginal relationships in Taiwan. National sport used to be a contested area but for some time various dominant groups have appropriated the baseball achievements of Austronesian aborigines. Hence, in order to go beyond the double oppression of Taiwanese nationalism and Chinese nationalism, this study reveals the marginalised status of aborigines in national discourses. It also suggests that post-nationalism could be an alternative approach to reconstruct their subjectivity in further studies.