Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Fieldnotes From History."
Click below for other fieldnotes dealing with Taiwan's 1985 provincial elections:
One year ago on Round and Square (24 July 2011)—Hurtin' Country: Holding On to Nothing But the Wheel
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| [a] En masse RF |
Election 1 Election 2 Election 3 Election 4 Election 5 Election 6
Election 7 Election 8 Election 9 Election 10 Election 11 Election 12
Election 13 Election 14 Election 15 Election 16 Election 17 Election 18
Election 7 Election 8 Election 9 Election 10 Election 11 Election 12
Election 13 Election 14 Election 15 Election 16 Election 17 Election 18
Part of an occasional Round and Square
series that follows the blog’s main theme (east meets
west, round meets square, and past meets present), these
snippets from my early fieldnotes are reproduced as they
were written by hand—and then revised on an ancient
desktop computer—during my first fieldwork stay in Taiwan
(1985-1987). All entries are the way that I left them
when I returned to the United States in 1987—some
nicely-stated and some embarrassing. Although the series began with
my assumption that the entries can stand alone, I have found that
separate comments and notes might help readers understand a world that
is now, well, history. These are always separate from the original fieldnote.
The next several dozen entries in this series represent my memories—in the form of fieldnotes that were already well on their way to being letters—of Taiwan's provincial elections in November 1985. I had taken down what I call "jottings" at the time, and "now," two months later, I was ready to get a little bit more detail down in the form of fieldnotes. If you are somewhat unfamiliar with the five-stage process that framed my work habits even back then, it might be worth a quick look at the introduction to this series. Suffice to say here that in Taiwan in 1985 I was working from "jottings" to "fieldnotes" most of the time. Every month or so, I would write a letter that made it all into a more sustained narrative. Even early on, I realized how powerfully the knowledge that I would be writing letters influenced my fieldnotes. You may see it, too. It has remained my method to this day.
Like many fieldnotes, these were "written
up" (a term I dislike, but am occasionally willing to use) after the
fact. I wonder if most students of anthropology know how common this is.
The implications for research, eye-witness authenticity, and
historiography are numerous. It is a reality that has never gone away
for field researchers of all kinds, though, and I suspect that it never
will.
The next several dozen entries in this series represent my memories—in the form of fieldnotes that were already well on their way to being letters—of Taiwan's provincial elections in November 1985. I had taken down what I call "jottings" at the time, and "now," two months later, I was ready to get a little bit more detail down in the form of fieldnotes. If you are somewhat unfamiliar with the five-stage process that framed my work habits even back then, it might be worth a quick look at the introduction to this series. Suffice to say here that in Taiwan in 1985 I was working from "jottings" to "fieldnotes" most of the time. Every month or so, I would write a letter that made it all into a more sustained narrative. Even early on, I realized how powerfully the knowledge that I would be writing letters influenced my fieldnotes. You may see it, too. It has remained my method to this day.
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| [b] Home fires RF |
Comment
This last comment, since this is where I finished on the afternoon of February 16, 1986, is a bit sarcastic. It has some of the better anthropological firepower at work (even now I am a sucker for "agnatic" and "affinal"), and hits a key point about cutting the influence of ethnic Taiwanese. This was a strategy that the Guomindang employed from the moment it arrived on the island, and was effective (depending on whom one asked back then) in diminishing "traditional" influence in island politics.
Still, the last few sentences drip with a blend of sarcasm and contempt. These are only fieldnotes, after all, so my concern was not about "final draft" quality. Still, I attribute most of my tone to the kind of adrenaline one gets when working too long and almost being done. Many of us have experienced this in term papers, late-night e-mail correspondence, or company reports. A certain Mary Tyler Moore went through a similar adrenaline rush when writing Wee Willie Williams's obituary back in the 1970s.*
*You'll get what you need in the first seven minutes of the link.
The lesson? Edit the next morning. Mary didn't, and neither did I.
Still, the last few sentences drip with a blend of sarcasm and contempt. These are only fieldnotes, after all, so my concern was not about "final draft" quality. Still, I attribute most of my tone to the kind of adrenaline one gets when working too long and almost being done. Many of us have experienced this in term papers, late-night e-mail correspondence, or company reports. A certain Mary Tyler Moore went through a similar adrenaline rush when writing Wee Willie Williams's obituary back in the 1970s.*
*You'll get what you need in the first seven minutes of the link.
The lesson? Edit the next morning. Mary didn't, and neither did I.
Notes
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| [c] Meandering RF |
[2] As a political strategy, this Guomindang gerrymandering shows that (unlike many other occupiers) they understood how marriage, politics, and culture fit together in this particular social order.
16 February 1986
Taipei
So elections in Taiwan are local and the issues debated severely limited. Higher offices are not negotiable; they are entirely based upon appointments from the Guomindang’s ruling clique. Even local elections have been tightly controlled. During the first wave of elections in Taiwan during the late 1950s, the government drew election boundaries through the heart of most traditional political units. This “cultural gerrymandering” severely weakened the influence of traditional village leaders and village-wide factions in the countryside. The changes reduced political affiliation based on agnatic ties or cross-village affinal relations. Thus the “energies of the people” are channeled in a way that leaves the ultimate decisions—economic, military, and governmental decisions—solely in the hands of those benevolent old men capable of running the country through the force of their virtue.
So elections in Taiwan are local and the issues debated severely limited. Higher offices are not negotiable; they are entirely based upon appointments from the Guomindang’s ruling clique. Even local elections have been tightly controlled. During the first wave of elections in Taiwan during the late 1950s, the government drew election boundaries through the heart of most traditional political units. This “cultural gerrymandering” severely weakened the influence of traditional village leaders and village-wide factions in the countryside. The changes reduced political affiliation based on agnatic ties or cross-village affinal relations. Thus the “energies of the people” are channeled in a way that leaves the ultimate decisions—economic, military, and governmental decisions—solely in the hands of those benevolent old men capable of running the country through the force of their virtue.
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| [d] Harmony RF |
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