The curator: Aliman Madiklan
Aliman does not engage visitors with humor and charm in the way Long does. Instead he keeps a low profile, sitting quietly in a chair made of acacia wood in the palihansiap (a pavilion for discussion or negotiation), observing the visitors’ activities with a serious expression on his face.
In Bunun, palihansiap means “discuss” or “coordinate.” The palihansiap, which can be considered the largest thatched pavilion in Taiwan, was completed in March of 2020. Taking advantage of a decline in visitor numbers due to the coronavirus outbreak, Aliman and a team of workers completed the building without the use of power tools in just over a month. He says: “In the past when we Bunun went to war, and now when we undertake tasks like building a house, we have always proceeded with an attitude of palihansiap, consulting with community elders.”
Aliman’s thesis for his MA degree from the Department of Ethnic Relations and Cultures at National Dong Hwa University was a study of the history of the former Bunun village of Isdaza from a local perspective, based on first-hand information he gathered by interviewing many local elders. The study explored how, during the era of Japanese rule in Taiwan, the Japanese compelled the Bunun living in Isdaza, which was located in coniferous forest at an elevation of 1000 meters above sea level, to relocate to foothills of 500-600 meters elevation in today’s Yanping Township, Taitung County. At the time there was violent resistance to this forced relocation.
Aliman’s understanding of his own people’s history is profound. He has variously worked as a reporter at Taiwan Indigenous Television, a research assistant at National Taitung University’s Center for Environmental Education, and a culture specialist at Austronesian Community College. In the process of drawing maps of indigenous communities and producing indigenous news programs, he witnessed how Aboriginal people often yielded to the temptation to sell off their land, and ended up with nothing. There was also rapacious development by big corporations that were snapping up land everywhere. That is why 17 years ago, when he discovered that a company had made a visit here with construction plans in hand and a fengshui master in tow, Aliman decided that there should be no repeat of the past. He took the loan he had just got from the bank to build his own house, as well as additional money he borrowed from the Luye Farmers Association and the Taiwan Business Bank, and bought the land that is now the Forest Culture Museum.
This narrow passageway between two rocks is typical of the topography of the Coastal Mountain Range.