Five students and an academic from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UNIMAS are invited by Taiwan’s Taitung University for a week-long international workshop.
The International Workshop on Cultural Heritage, Community Empowerment and Sustainable Management of the Austronesian Peoples is a week-long workshop from 8th to 14th October 2019.
The workshop is organized by the Center of Austronesian Culture (Taitung University) and sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Taiwan Council of Indigenous People.
The workshop aims to enhance socio-cultural understanding between the Austronesian communities of Taiwan with Malaysia and Indonesia. The participants comprise of 31 students and 10 academics.
The students are from Taitung University, National Taiwan University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Universiti Tanjung Pura, Pontianak Indonesia. Over the week, 10 sessions of lectures are conducted ranging from Introduction of Taiwan History, Introduction of the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan, Societies and Cultures of the Austronesia Peoples, Community Development and Community Empowerment, Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Community Subjectivity, etc.
There are also excursions to cultural heritage sites such as Amis village and Bunun Slate House where the traditional stone houses are being rebuilt and restored so that the Bunun people live in the traditional houses again.
This workshop is an eye-opening experience for students of Unimas who are from Anthropological background as they are able to apply the knowledge they have acquired into a different context, the Taiwanese context.
Taiwan like Sarawak and Malaysia is home to many indigenous people. Many of these indigenous groups are no longer practicing their traditional ways of life due to urbanization, migration, etc. The government together with the Council of Indigenous Peoples and NGOs are trying to create awareness and recognition towards the indigenous people.
At the same to help to promote and improve the people's quality of life and sense of identity. This exposure is very good and pertinent to our students as they will be able to have a more holistic view of the issues and challenges revolving around indigenous people.
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