This year is the tenth anniversary of the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation (ICPF) since its establishment. For the past decade, ICPF has witnessed many crucial moments when indigenous people returned home to trace their roots. Ten years ago the issuing of the permit for ICPF came as Taiwan was hit hard by Typhoon Morakot. A lot of indigenous peoples conceived the idea of returning to the hometown upon seeing the destruction brought about by the typhoon, which is dubbed the second returning-home wave after the first social movement of indigenous peoples in the 1980’s. As ethnic consciousness was gradually formed in recent years, more young people have started to move back to the communities, highly likely leading to the third wave.
It takes tremendous devotion to move home. Undoubtedly, Taiwan’s government has poured resources into communities, and the economy and society of Taiwan have also gone through structural shifts. Therefore, now people have differing ideas about work than ever before. The Eastern coast of Taiwan boasts outstanding environmental strengths, which are favorable for developing the service industry. Also, with the coming of Internet age, all the information is synchronized, and work is no longer confined to cities. Education, at the same time, helps to accelerate indigenous peoples’ self-identity and ethnic consciousness.
As the mass media serving the indigenous peoples, ICPF circulates a variety of information and messages, from communities, or to the international arena, through its platform. Under ICPF, there are various media resources including Taiwan Indigenous TV, FM96.3 Alian Radio, and Indigenous Sight covering three different kinds of media ranging from TV, radio, to magazines with specific responsibilities, respectively.
In terms of television, real images from indigenous communities touch indigenous people to the core, and can be presented in front of those working in metropolises. These people can only know so much about their culture through word of mouth, or occasional visits to communities. However, with coverage on TV, they will still be able to know real time what is happening in their communities, even though they cannot stay on home turf for long.
Radio is the most typical form of mass media in the borderless Internet. As long as there is a networking system, radio can be easily accessible. This year, ICPF has also launched branches in Eastern and Southern Taiwan in the hope that the talented local people can tailor programs for their residents. As for magazines, not only are there written stories, but also pictures that give readers different interpretive options. Magazines bridge the gap between the indigenous peoples and Non-indigenous people, so that both can gain knowledge about the indigenous cultures.
Apart from spreading messages, another mission of ICPF is to promote indigenous culture and art. Each year, the foundation subsidizes artistic creation and organizes the biennial Pulima Art Award, which has become an important indicator for contemporary indigenous art.
In the future, ICPF’s media platforms aim to switch from“Chinese major; indigenous languages minor” to “indigenous languages major; Chinese minor.” We are not only going to increase the use of indigenous languages, but also develop actively the second generation of newsreaders, whose mother tongue will be from the indigenous languages in addition to the existing newsreaders of 16 indigenous languages to avoid talent shortage. Human resources are our crucial assets, and the development of our talent pool can no longer wait.
At the 10th anniversary, ICPF has finally gotten a home. We are going to move to the permanent office in Cingpu, Taoyuan City in two years. There will be more readily available resources in the future, so that the world will be able to understand Taiwan and the indigenous peoples living within the nation.
Chairperson, Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation
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