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This is an autobiographical research, attempting to add indigenous women’s experiences to Taiwan women’s movements and indigenous movements. To write is to initiate a political engagement, to open up a new widow to show the practices of an indigenous woman activist and organizer. Among the research on women’s movements in Taiwan, Indigenous woman rarely becomes the main focus. Even if indigenous women are studied, they are usually not vocal in their own words; only be represented by ethnic majority researchers, who own social privilege to write.
I am an indigenous woman from the tribe, from a minority group named Kakakanavu, and a grassroots women's organizer. I started my social participation by organizing a grassroots indigenous women’s organization in urban Kaohsiung. This experience later brought me to work at governmental levels: I was one of the first female members of Executive Yuan Indigenous Affairs Committee, then as a member of Executive YuanCommittee To Promote Women’s Rights, chairpersonof Kaohsiung Indigenous Affairs Committee, and vice-chairperson of Kaohsiung Post-disaster Reconstruction Committeeafter Typhoon Morakot. My actions demonstrated the multiple possibilities of an indigenous woman to bring about social changes. To write down my experiences, I hope to enrich the discussions on women's movements and Indigenous movements.
Despite of participating in public sector, I never give up grassroots organizing. I not only birthed a local organization to promote Kanakanavu cultural and ethnic revitalization, but also establisheda women’s organization in the tribe, committed to promote gender issues and women's empowerment in indigenous cultures. Looking back to the past, I travelled between the city to the tribe, on the way of passing through all the difficulties at different levels, my hope is to continually practice gender equality initiatives and to restore consciousness of tribal autonomy and collectivity.
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