Linking Publishing has released 4 sets of 12 volumes of “Selected Works of Taiwan’s Aboriginal Literature” which includes transcriptions in both Chinese and native ethnic languages.
Linking Publishing first published “Selected Works of Taiwan’s Indigenous Literature” in 2003. While it did include works and reviews of aboriginal literature, the publication was almost entirely in Chinese and only included works from the 1980s to about 2000. The latest selected works now cover works from nearly 60 years, beginning in the Japanese colonial period. Included in the publications are poems from acclaimed authors BaLiwakes (陸森寶) and Uyongʉ Yata'uyungana (高一生) all the way to contemporary Aboriginal authors of 2022, additionally covering essays, novels, and literary criticisms totaling 130 writers, and 342 works.
Perhaps most meaningfully, the featured works are not only in Chinese but also in their own ethnic languages. Chief Planning Editor and former Council of Indigenous People’s Minister Paelabang Danapan (孫大川) points out that it’s thanks to the inclusion of native languages that Indigenous authors can finally speak as first-person subjects in their works– citing it as a “major milestone” in allowing the current generation of aboriginal writers to participate in Taiwan’s writing and publishing scene.
Danapan said that since the government announced an official writing system for indigenous languages in 2005, more and more writers have begun embracing it as a medium for their works. While some use mixed Chinese and others stick to full Romanization, all these works deserve encouragement for how they enshrine Aboriginal culture in a physical way in the world.
Danapan clarifies that writing out ethnic languages, whatever the form it takes, is one way intangible pieces of culture can be made physical. Using the example of Li Bai’s poems as cultural works that went on to leave indelible marks on culture and development, he said that there is no longer any force that can deny the existence of Aboriginal literature.