Settler colonial incorporation and inheritance: historical sciences, indigeneity, and settler narratives in post-WWII Taiwan

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article, I argue that the incorporation and inheritance of indigeneity is central to the making of settler colonialism. While scholars in settler colonial studies predominantly focus on the erasure and silencing of indigenous experience and history, I analyze how indigeneity can be selectively incorporated and inherited into settler-centric narratives of the nation. I examine such settler colonial incorporation and inheritance in postwar Taiwanese historical sciences, in particular, anthropology and archaeology. I investigate how anthropological and archaeological discourse has interpreted the presence of indigenous peoples in relation to nationalist projects across two different periods: the Kuomintang authoritarian period (1949–1987) and the postauthoritarian period (1987–present). In both periods, I argue, anthropologists and archaeologists have been complicit with nationalist narratives in justifying and claiming settler belonging on invaded land. For this purpose, they have incorporated and inherited indigeneity, rather than simply erase it.