The Process of Choosing Ethnic Identity and Status for the Second Generation Born of Intermarriage between Aborigines and Han

• Main Authors: Jian-Jong Jengyuan, 鄭袁建中
• Other Authors: Shu- Chuan Lai
• Format: Others
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/33514801014635442359

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 族群關係與文化學系 === 103 === The study examines the process of choosing ethnic identity and status for the second generation born of intermarriage between Aborigines and Hans. The second generation’s mothers are Aborigines trying to improve the economic situation of the original family and fathers are Mainland veterans living in Taiwan for seeking to have a family. In the past, the laws recognized the second generation as Mainlanders, not Aborigines. Because of the parents’ intermarriage, the difference in ethnic groups, culture, languages as well as lifestyle, and the relative weakness of the parents in their respective societies, the second generation appears to be pushed to the margin of both societies. With Taiwan’s democratization wave of social movements and the rise of indigenous movements, the ethnic consciousness is gradually enhanced. Aboriginal women can regain their ethnic identity due to the revision of the policy. Consequently, the long suppressed indigenous consciousness increasingly gets attention while the Mainlanders gradually lose their advantages. The second generation born of intermarriage between Aborigines and Hans grows up in the period of social changes in Taiwan’s ethnic relations. It occurs for them that the ethnic identity flows between Aborigines and Hans, which shows the character of these peoples. The study adopts the qualitative research by conduct in-depth interview to understand the life experience of the second generation born of intermarriage between Aborigines and Hans and explore how these people shape their ethnic identity and choose their status. The research shows the shaping of the ethnic recognition is different when it goes through various phases such as family life, leaving home experience, and the change in ethnic relations in Taiwan. Facing the selection of ethnic identity and ethnic belonging, the second generation is subject to considerations of identity change; thus, different orientations of identity recognition are formed.