Hu Tai-li (胡台麗), an anthropologist, ethnographic filmmaker and adjunct research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Ethnology, has died following an illness.
She was 72 years old, former Council of Indigenous Peoples minister Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川) said on Sunday.
Sun wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning that he was shocked and saddened to hear late on Saturday night of the passing of Hu, a well-respected friend of Indigenous peoples.
Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage
Born in 1950, Hu, a pioneer of ethnographic films, graduated from National Taiwan University’s (NTU) department of history and obtained a doctorate in anthropology from City University of New York.
She concurrently served as a research fellow at Academia Sinica, a professor at National Tsing Hua University’s Institute of Anthropology, chairwoman of the Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival and head of the Taiwan Association of Visual Ethnography.
Hu directed and produced a number of documentaries, and published several books that inspired the study of Taiwan’s Indigenous communities, new immigrants and ethnic groups, and gender issues.
In 1984, Hu made her first ethnographic documentary titled The Return of Gods and Ancestors.
Her film Voices of Orchid Island won the Best Documentary Film award at the 1993 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and a Silver Plaque at the 1994 Chicago International Film Festival.
In 1997, her documentary Passing Through My Mother-in-law’s Village became the first one in Taiwan to be shown in commercial theaters.
Hu’s other films have received awards at several international film festivals: Returning Souls received a special mention in the Intangible Cultural Heritage category at the 2012 Jean Rouch International Film Festival in Paris, and a Gold Remi Award in the Ethnic and Cultural category at the 2013 WorldFest Houston in Texas.
Hu in 1986 published her first book, titled Sex and Death, which described her experiences in Papua New Guinea, where she conducted field research after earning her doctorate, but before returning to Taiwan.
“We often worry that the culture of Aboriginal tribes is on the verge of disappearing, but we don’t ask whether our own culture is about to disappear,” Hu wrote.
“If we are not willing to abandon our prejudices, and face our own and other ethnic cultures humbly, we will never escape the fate of being someone with a narrow view of the world, just like a frog in a well,” she wrote.
Her other writings include: Daughter-in-law Entering the Door; Mother-in-law’s Village: Rural Industrialization and Change in Taiwan; Burning Melancholy, Paiwan Nose and Mouth Flutes; and Cultural Performances and Taiwan Indigenous Peoples.
Taiwanese author Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) wrote on Facebook that he and Hu were classmates at NTU.
Hu was known for being a serious and rigorous student, Chen said, adding that her death was “unacceptable.”
Choreographer Ping Heng (平珩), who did field work with Hu, wrote on Facebook that Hu introduced her to the world of ethnography.
Ping said she could never keep up with Hu’s vitality and her overflowing enthusiasm for doing anthropological fieldwork.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard