Trial-Blazing on Islands

2022/05/10 Views：289

Trial-Blazing on Islands: Intersections of Paper Mulberry and Snails and Space - A Conversation between Enma Chang and Kuo-Fang Chung.

Written by Hanyau Huang

Translated by Leonard Chien

After the Ice Age, temperature rebounded, sea levels rose, and tropical organisms proliferated. Southeast Asia and Oceania then had become countless separated islands. Creatures had to migrate through island hopping. Over 4,000 years ago, Austronesian peoples skillful in sailing began their journeys to explore new worlds in archipelagos. Their vessels embarked all kinds of faunal and floral resources. Through analyzing gene sequences of paper mulberry, Kuofang Chung and his team follow this barkcloth across archipelagos on the Pacific to trace how Austronesian peoples spread from Taiwan.

In 1933, Japanese Empire aggressively expanded southward. Government-General of Taiwan official Kumaichi Shimojo introduced Giant African Snails, originating from East Africa, from Singapore to Taiwan for cultivation. However, these snails escaped and became a common alien species. Previously, Giant African Snails were brought to Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, Borneo, and even Hawaii. Starting from packages of frozen snails from Taitung by her Paiwan mother, Enman Chang follows snail mucus like nostalgia to explore a colonization network, and identify symbols carried by these snails.

Through millennia, Austronesian peoples spread from Taiwan to all these islands, and encounter many modern impacts. While paper mulberry culture fades away, Giant African Snails become a common food ingredient for indigenous people. Two trail-blazing organisms intertwine over time and space. How do scientists and artists interpret this intriguing history?

A paper mulberry in Taitung, 4,200 years ago.

Chung: I originally thought I would be a botanist that concentrates only on botany. When I studied in America, many researchers in the lab conducted “domestication” studies. It was about how wild plants became crops. I was fascinated by many case studies before realizing it was my interest in history. Paper mulberry DNA evidence corresponds with anthropological assumptions that Austronesian peoples emigrate from Taiwan. We can almost clearly identify when paper mulberry was brought out from Taitung. Population genetics is about studying history.

Enman: I remember how I learned about paper mulberry. I grew up mostly in Taipei. My father came to Taiwan from China in 1949. About 10 years ago, I wanted to go back to the tribe of my Paiwan mother. In the tribe, my aunt over 70 years old climbed a paper mulberry and picked leaves for goats. I was shocked and learned about paper mulberry for the first time. Edibility is the first thing I know about every plant. I always ask if it is edible. If not, why in the world does it exist? (laugh)

Chung: Indeed, a lot of traditional wisdom from indigenous people start with practicality. If it is not usable, it doesn’t exist. All things with the same function are called the same.

Enman: I rented a dorm from Taiwan Railways Administration in Taitung with a small yard covered by concrete and sand. A paper mulberry grew between two septic tanks. I cut it down when it was almost one story tall. As I visited northern Taiwan quite often, when I returned a few months later, it was already two stories tall. That’s my recent impression about paper mulberry.

Chung: I know some Hakka people call it the “ruin tree”, as it often grows in graveyards or wastelands. I often said that paper mulberry is the most common but overlooked plant in Taiwan. In many places, when a paper mulberry appears, it is often removed completely, or its roots will branch out quickly. This is the most important feature for our studies. As long as Austronesian people brought a few tillers with them, it would be more than enough to reproduce. Our data show that they brought very few tillers with them.

作者：鍾國芳。構樹葉。典藏者：鍾國芳。創用CC 姓名標示-非商業性-相同方式分享 3.0台灣（CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 TW）。發佈於《開放博物館》[https://reurl.cc/D6AMVe]（2020/09/22瀏覽）。

Enman: In this sense, paper mulberry is a portable material culture that migrates with people?

Chung: This is what I think now: About 4,200 years ago, there was a paper mulberry in Taitung that tribespeople knew its bark clothes were especially good, so they travelled with their tillers all the way to Easter Island. Therefore, all paper mulberries now may come from the same origin. As Austronesian people migrated all by island hopping, they didn’t know anything about physical conditions in their next destinations. Reasonably, they would bring everything needed in life. Besides food and crops, they would bring chicken, pigs, dogs, and paper mulberry. If there were snails in Taiwan, it would be included in these trips as well. It is similar to the days when I studied abroad in America, I brought a Datong Electric Cooker with me. This is our fundamental prerequisite that people bring necessities to another place.

Distribution of ndhF-rpl32 haplotypes and haplotype network. The sizes of the circles and pie charts are proportional to the number of individuals sampled (N) for both distribution maps and haplotype network.
典藏者：鍾國芳。創用CC 姓名標示-非商業性-相同方式分享 3.0台灣（CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 TW）。發佈於《開放博物館》[https://reurl.cc/e8DbLW]（2020/09/22瀏覽）。

12 snails in 1933

Chung: I have a friend from Taitung whose mom sends him snails to Taipei. These snails are put into his freezer. Your exhibition reminds me that several researchers in the Forestry Research Institute have been studying data in Southeast Asia during Japan colonization period. Government-General of Taiwan experimented with various faunal and floral resources under southbound policies. Snails were brought to Taiwan in this context.

Enman: I was first troubled by the freezer full of snails. Later as I developed the snail series, I gradually learned more about this creature. Giant African Snails were first brought by Kumaichi Shimojo from Singapore to Taiwan in 1932. After they were all dead, he brought another 12 snails the next year for cultivation and succeeded. Snails later escaped and became an aggressive alien species.

Chung: Do all Giant African Snails in Taiwan now start from these 12?

Enman: I suppose they do. Shimojo tried to sell snails and work with merchants. I feel like searching for roots for these snails. After completing the exhibition in Singapore late last year, I will go to Africa in future.

蝸牛樂園 Snail Paradise (2019)，刺繡屏風 300x200cm，食譜，影像。展出於2019新加坡雙年展（圖片提供：新加坡雙年展）

Chung: Do locals eat them?

Now Singaporeans do not eat snails at all. They find it disgusting. Some people seem to look down on snails as a dietary option. I think both paper mulberry and snail are considered “nasty” in society.

Chung: I fully agree. (Laugh)

Enman: My interest in paper mulberry began when I was developing dishes with snails, but I couldn’t get rid of their mucus. I tried with ashes and water, but mucus increased. Six years ago, a Pangcah person in Taitung told me that paper mulberry and its huge fuzzy leaves could remove snail mucus effectively. I put this concept in the exhibition in Singapore. I started to imagine: Colonialism begins with empire expansion on the sea. Mucus that snails leave behind their movements are similar to colonization routes...

Chung: And paper mulberry leaves can erase them.

Enman: Yes, a native species can erase traces by alien species, and our people also use snails in our precious dish, cinavu^{^[1]}. This inclusive and transformative process is decolonization to me.

Chung: This is so important to me. People claim many plants have changed our history, but they never mention paper mulberry. I’ll include your decolonization context in the discourse, and hopefully transform common impressions about it.

Homeland to Austronesian peoples and its significance

Chung: If someone tells you today that Taiwan is the homeland of Austronesian peoples^{^[1]}. How will you feel?

Enman: I will be proud. Why is the question?

Chung: Even though I am not an Austronesian, I seriously think someone in my family has an Austronesian background. I’m the eighth generation in Taiwan, and my mom is a Min. Families with over five generations in Taiwan are almost certain to have Plains indigenous peoples on the maternal side. When we talk about ethnic groups, it’s mostly cultural identity, rather than genetics. I am a Hakka simply because my dad is a Hakka. Genetically, though, I may be 75% Min. If I follow maternal identity, I may even claim as an indigenous person. I retrieve household registration data during Japanese colonization period, and discover many of my ancestors are erased. Japanese government marked people by their ethnic groups, and indigenous people were erased.

Enman: It’s good that you still have a copy. Some records are burned.

Chung: This study forces me to ask who I really am. The statement “Taiwan is the homeland of Austronesian peoples” is significant because, among places colonized by Han culture, it’s a rare example to keep so many other cultures. That’s how strong Austronesian cultures are. Even though indigenous culture is declining, we are still fortunate to identify so many Austronesian peoples and languages now.

Enman: One of my concerns is slightly politically incorrect. Decolonization is often a reaction to colonization. Some indigenous groups in Taiwan are obsessed with connecting with New Zealand. They underline Austronesian connections and claim they are coming to Taiwan for their roots. It feels like another version of the Greater China mindset.

Chung: I can understand why you feel that way. I believe language diversity is something we need to protect the most in the world, along with biodiversity. Languages represent different life experiences over time. I’m fine if my study is used to highlight this ethnic identity politically.

Rebuild historical gaps

Enman: I think academic works are also artistic, as researchers extract results from a lot of literature and studies. In recent years, artworks often include anthropological, geographical, and archeological materials, and there is a sub-category called bioart. What’s your opinion when these academic materials are put into art?

Chung: I admire them. I agree that everything, when pushed to the utmost, can be called art, just in different presentations. Many people are too narrow in their imaginations about academic researches.

Enman: (You mean) they need some creativity?

Chung: Creativity is what researchers need the most. Most scientific studies are highly restricted by social conditions. We are not allowed to move beyond frameworks. It’s ironic when people celebrate “interdisciplinary studies”. All issues are interdisciplinary by essence. Scientific categories actually limit our perspectives.

Enman: The paper mulberry study really needs archeological evidence besides DNA analysis.

Chung: Questions are always the most important aspect. To find answers, we need knowledge from all aspects. Scholars two hundred years ago were very erudite. They have to study a wide range of topics. Good papers need a group of authors. These achievements really need group efforts.

Enman: I feel that some contexts are bound to converge. In recent years, many artists study anthropology and other disciplines, and artworks are full of literature and field works. It’s much more than form or shape now. I think it’s related to historical voids in Taiwan. When a language disappears, linguists and anthropologists may find referential data, and recreate this language. It’s reason and science. Artists may create works or take other paths to look for and rebuild these historical gaps.

張恩滿送給鍾國芳（左）她設計的構樹刺繡。（圖片提供：張恩滿）

Enman Chang
Born in Taitung, artist Enman Chang is concerned about how indigenous people in Taiwan coordinate and process their cultural, social, and survival status in the irreversible modernization movement. She profiles the world based on this premise, and hopes to discover the transformative power of art.

Kuo-Fang Chung

Chung is a botanist and a research fellow in Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica. When he was young, there was a fruitful tree close to his home. Its fruits were so sweet that many beetles were attracted. When his team was conducting a phylogeography study on paper mulberry in 2015 as a proof that Austronesian peoples originate from Taiwan, he suddenly recalls this early connection with paper mulberry.

^{^[1]} Cinavu: millet rice ball
^{^[2]} Extensive linguistic, anthropological, and biological evidence indicate that migrations of Austronesian peoples may all originate from Taiwan.

Trial-Blazing on Islands

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