National Institutes the Humanities National Museum of Ethnology

日本語

Building an Integrated Digital Archive of Taiwan Studies / Promotional research project / April 2022 - March 2024 / NOBAYASHI Atsushi

Objectives

The objective of this project is to digitize Minpaku's collection of Taiwan-related materials, integrate them in a database, and build a digital archive which makes it possible to connect materials from different sources along temporal and spatial axes. By publishing this archive online, we will be sharing an academic resource for joint use by the research community, as well as a cultural resource for the source community and wider public. The purpose of the research is also to explore Taiwanese society during the period of Japanese rule (1895-1945), which is the focus of the materials in Minpaku's collection, from the perspectives of 1) Changes in material culture, 2) Changes in scenery, and 3) Changes in social life.
Previous studies of these changes have mainly been conducted within the field of historical research. In the field of indigenous studies, which is the applicant's area of expertise, research has been conducted on this area in relation to Riban-seisaku (Aboriginal policy), the development of legal systems, and economic indicators. However, there are often disparities between these changes of system, or changes understood statistically through economic indicators, and actual social life as experienced by people. It is also very likely that changes in social life had an impact on the changes of system and economic indicators.
Based on the accumulation of historical research so far, this research will link together information on Taiwanese society gleaned from Minpaku's collection of artifacts, visual materials and documents, to paint a more granular historical picture of Taiwanese society.

Description

This project will be implemented in the following three stages, in order to enhance Minpaku's Taiwan and Colonial Studies, promote the joint use of Minpaku's collection of academic materials by universities, and share the materials with society.
(1) Build an integrated digital archive of Taiwan Studies
(2) Develop international joint research utilizing the digital archive
(3) Plan an online exhibition

(1) Build an integrated digital archive of Taiwan Studies
Minpaku's collection of Taiwan-related materials will be digitized and an integrated digital archive built utilizing the database platform constructed in the 3rd term of the Info-Forum Museum project. This applicant has already built a database entitled "Material Culture in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands" about the artifacts in Minpaku's collection through the 3rd term of the Info-Forum Museum project, made it available online to the general public in Japanese, Chinese and English, and shared cultural resources with domestic and overseas researchers, the source community and general users. This database will contribute to research that promotes an understanding of Taiwanese society and especially the society and history of Taiwanese indigenous peoples based mainly on material culture.
In this research, images that present a concrete picture of society will be incorporated into the database along with ethnographies, newspapers and institutional publications that provide detailed information, to create an integrated digital archive which enables users to cross-reference, 1) Changes in material culture, 2) Changes in scenery, and 3) Changes in social life.
With regards to 1), the database is already complete, but some of the images are low resolution images taken with older generation camera equipment. In order to improve the archive, we will check the state of the images, and update them where necessary in accordance with Minpaku's overall photography plan.
With regards to 2), we will create a database of images from the Isao Uchida, Yasuyoshi Kobayashi and Toichi Mabuchi archives stored by Minpaku, and link them to the "Material Culture in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands" database. Minpaku has an academic exchange agreement with the National Museum of Taiwan History, and we will work with them on creating the database for the Isao Uchida archive.
With regards to 3), we will digitize the report documents which are no longer under copyright from the period of Japanese rule housed at Minpaku, Banzoku kanshu chosa houkoku(Report on customs of native tribes survey), Ribanshikou (Report of aboriginal management), Riban no tomo (Fellowship of aboriginal management), Kankonsousai to nenchugyoji(Ceremonial occasion and annual events) etc., and create a database of textual quotes from related articles in the Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Taiwan daily news) (microfilm collection). These will be linked with the "Material Culture in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands" database.
Furthermore, there are many people in Japan who own Taiwan-related materials, either because they lived in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial rule or because they are descended from people who lived there at that time. In this project, we aim to collect digital materials by setting up a website and SNS account for the "Integrated Digital Archive of Taiwan Studies" and accepting donations of research materials from the general public.

(2) Develop international joint research utilizing the digital archive
While implementing stage (1) of the project, we will conduct international joint research utilizing the digital archive in collaboration with domestic and overseas research institutes which have built and published similar Taiwan-related digital archives, and develop international joint research about Taiwan microhistory. Specific research institutes we are considering include Lafayette College in the US (Professor Paul Barclay), and Tokushima Prefectural Torii Ryuzo Memorial Museum (Deputy Director Kenji Hasegawa).
Lafayette College in the US has built and published an online digital archive of Taiwanese picture postcards, which are mainly from the period of Japanese colonial rule, and conducted research on the scenery and representation of colonies. Tokushima Prefectural Torii Ryuzo Memorial Museum has built and published an online digital archive of the field notes which provide background data to Minpaku's collection of materials collected by Torii Ryuzo, and has investigated Japanese anthropological research from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century.
In addition to these research institutes, we will put together a research term comprised mainly of researchers from Taiwan's National Museum of Prehistory, the National Museum of Taiwan History (with whom we have an academic agreement), and the Kanagawa University Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture. As well as exploring social change in colonial Taiwan, the team will consider a methodology of historical research based on the digital archive.
The changes in colonial Taiwan we are seeking to clarify through this research are deeply connected with the issue of transitional justice in contemporary Taiwanese society. These days the issue of transitional justice is mainly discussed in relation to political oppression under the administration of the Republic of China. However, while the generation who have actually experienced these issues is decreasing in numbers, we can fully expect that the movement to seek the background to this and the period of Japanese colonial rule will increase in the future. Our international joint research will seek to create an archive which contributes to the historical memory from a different angle to the collective memory formed through discourse.

(3) Plan an online exhibition
As a few of the joint researchers are affiliated with museums, we will plan an online exhibition which utilizes the digital archive. The feasibility of implementing the exhibition will be considered at the planning stage, taking into account budgetary measures and other factors.

Expected results

The integrated digital archive of Taiwan studies we intend to build will have the following features:
1) Available online to the general public
2) A digital resource of all the Taiwan-related materials in Minpaku's collection
3) An interactive, multilingual (Japanese, Chinese and English) environment where users can leave comments, developed from the database built in the 3rd term of the Info-Forum Museum
As such, we expect it to become a powerful tool for enabling the joint use of Minpaku's academic materials by the academic community and universities, and for sharing cultural resources with the wider public, including the source community.
In addition, as part of our international joint research, we will host international workshops online and in-person, and will publish a special collection of research papers considering Taiwan's microhistory from the following three perspectives: 1) Changes in material culture; 2) Changes in scenery; 3) Changes in social life. Specifically, we will use the National Museum of Ethnology scholarship donation "Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines research grant" to publish a special feature in Taiwan Genjumin Kenkyu (Studies of Taiwan Aborigines) or Minpaku's Kenkyu Houkoku (Research Reports).

Outcomes from 2023

1) Build Integrated Digital Archive of Taiwan Studies and publish it online
We have developed the basic design for the English and Chinese versions of the integrated archive in Japanese constructed during the previous fiscal year. The contents of the integrated archive include: (1) Research projects being carried out at Minpaku (Info-Forum Archives of Human Culture, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research); (2) Databases constructed for Info-Forum Archives of Human Culture (“Material Culture in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands” database, “Isao Uchida Archive” database, “Yasuyoshi Kobayashi Archive” database); (3) Research Library (domestic and overseas Taiwan research databases, archive of exhibitions held by Minpaku, links to domestic and overseas research institutions and museums with collections of Taiwan materials). The integrated archive has become a useful resource for promoting humanities research on Taiwan.
Online publication of the archive has been postponed to the following fiscal year, as we have not yet completed the work of checking copyright and portrait rights for the materials.

2) Hold preparatory meetings and host in-person/ online international joint research meeting
(1) Hosting “Thinking Hunter-gardeners: Anthropological and Archaeological Approaches” international workshop
On 24 April 2023 we held a hybrid online and in-person international workshop exploring ecological adaptation in Taiwan called “Thinking Hunter-gardeners: Anthropological and Archaeological Approaches”. This was an attempt to understand the relative importance of hunting and farming, which are the main elements of Taiwan’s subsistence mix. The event was devised and planned by overseas special researcher Pei-Lin Yu (Boise State University) and project leader Atsushi Nobayashi, and featured six presenters (including a joint presentation), as well as a discussion among the 22 participants.
(2) Inspecting materials and conducting joint research with Taiwanese indigenous people and Taiwan researchers
From 21-27 June 2023, we conducted a joint study to inspect materials with members of the Atayal community, as well as researchers from National Taiwan University of Art and National Chengchi University. In this study we used the “Material Culture in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands” and “Yasuyoshi Kobayashi Archive” databases (which are still under review and construction) on a trial basis to examine the materials and verify the methods for utilizing the archive. On 24 June 2023, we held a joint research meeting with the Grant-in-Aid (A) research project “Exploring an indigenous society in early colonial Taiwan by joining ethnographic archives and field research” (22H00040), for which the leader of this project is the principal investigator, to discuss the current issues surrounding the preservation of traditional indigenous crafts in Taiwan.
(3) Joint preparations for building an archive with the National Museum of Taiwan History
In accordance with our international academic agreement, we collaborated with the National Museum of Taiwan History on the Chinese translation of the “Isao Uchida Archive” database. In March 2024, Nobayashi, Teramura and Nara visited the museum to report on the progress of the archive and to have preparatory meetings for the joint international exhibition which will utilize Minpaku’s materials (scheduled to open in August 2024).

3) Plan an online exhibition
We designed an online reproduction of the special exhibition “Tradition and Regeneration”, which was held at Minpaku from March to May 1994, using content developed from the catalog, publications and related records. Permission was obtained from the authors regarding the content of the text, and an environment has been prepared that will enable us to publish the virtual exhibition online from the following fiscal year onwards.

4) Write and edit collection of papers (special issue)
A collection of papers has been edited based on the international workshop “Thinking Hunter-gardeners: Anthropological and Archaeological Approaches”, and we plan to apply for a special feature in Minpaku's Kenkyu Houkoku (Research Report) in FY2024.

Outcomes from 2022

Keeping the original plan in mind, this fiscal year we considered the use and operation of the portal site, and identified the research materials for digitization according to the content selected for posting.

1) Check the data in the "Material Culture in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands" database. Consider system migration.
We used the app provided by the Forum Committee to identify any problems with copyright and cultural sensitivity. This process is expected to be completed by the end of this fiscal year (or at least by early next fiscal year). We worked with the joint researchers to check the content of the data, but in the course of this it became clear that there were discrepancies in the data being displayed. Due to issues with how the system displays different data sets, we would like to migrate the system for artifacts next fiscal year.

2) Undertake necessary procedures to publish images from the Isao Uchida, Yasuyoshi Kobayashi and Toichi Mabuchi archives.
For the Uchida archive, we have completed the renumbering of the data and images. The National Museum of Taiwan History, with whom we have an academic agreement, has begun the work of translating the information into Chinese. Led by the joint researchers, the Kobayashi archive has been inspected and the Japanese version of the contents completed. We have decided to exclude the Mabuchi archive from the project based on its content.

3) Digitize documentary materials.
It was pointed out that the data archives of Minpaku's past exhibitions are an important data resource, so a decision was taken to digitize the "Tradition and Regeneration" special exhibition held in 1994 and "Centennial Gaze" exhibition held in 2009. We digitized the text from "Tradition and Regeneration".

4) Hold online international joint research meetings.
As the situation with COVID-19 infections has improved, we were able to hold our research meetings in person. These were held in collaboration with joint researchers Hasegawa (Tokushima Prefectural Torii Ryuzo Memorial Museum) and Jun-Nan Chen (Museum of Archaeology, Tainan Branch of National Museum of Prehistory).
12 February 2023: Museum of Archaeology, Tainan Branch of National Museum of Prehistory
12 March 2023: International symposium "Torii Ryuzo and Taiwan – Exploring the Possibilities of Materials", Tokushima Prefectural Torii Ryuzo Memorial Museum

5) Launch website for "Integrated Digital Archive of Taiwan Studies"
We completed the design of the website. The main content areas will be "Research Project" and "Library".