Rethinking East Asian Society and Culture from Places of Prayer

I have been conducting anthropological research throughout East Asia, with a focus on Taiwan. While Taiwan has established its position as a representative of democracy in East Asia, this is not a recent development; for a long time after the war, civil liberties were restricted under a dictatorial regime.

Looking back at history, Han Chinese gradually migrated to Taiwan, where indigenous peoples known as the Yuanzhumin lived. Subsequently, new rulers arrived one after another: the Dutch and Spanish during the Age of Discovery, the British after the Opium War, the Japanese after the Sino-Japanese War, and the Republic of China after World War II. As a result, multiple colonial experiences have layered like a mille-feuille, and the various cultures brought by people of different origins have made Taiwan a diverse and vibrant society, while also leading to fierce power struggles at each turn.

Through colonial rule by Imperial Japan, the post-war February 28 incident and state violence, the democratization movement starting in the 1970s, and major historical events like the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement, these topics have been actively studied in the fields of history, political science, and international relations.

And in those places, there was always the prayer of the people, yet it has not received much attention until now. While immersing myself in these places of prayer, I am re-evaluating them anthropologically. Anthropology uses a method called ethnography, which involves living in a local area for a long period and thinking together with the people encountered there. By staying close to the same locations and feeling the breath of the people who pray, I aim to depict a vision of East Asia that differs from what has been seen before from the world that becomes visible.