ABSTRACT
This chapter examines political change in Taiwan since 2008 through the prism of the indigenous rights movements that claim to speak for the half a million people of Austronesian descent and identity on the island. In a reflection on changes in Taiwan's indigenous movements since 2008, the chapter describes four recent unfoldings: increasing emphasis on livelihood issues, the rise of non-church actors, the use of new social media and a radical rethinking of party politics. The vibrancy of all social movements is a sign of the strength of democracy; but the indigenous movement appears especially indicative of Taiwan's national identity because it draws attention to a non-Chinese specificity of Taiwan. Anthropologist Fiorella Allio (1998a) dates the modern indigenous social movement back to the establishment of the magazine Gaoshanqing in 1983, followed in 1984 by the establishment of the Alliance of Taiwan Aborigines (ATA).
