誰是南島語族：身分認同的可能性

「南島」是當代最迷人、也充滿張力的身分認同建構歷程，其中涉及原住民、民族、國族、殖民和去殖民等不同層面的交織與碰撞。「南島語族（Austronesian）」原本是一個語言學概念，它指使用南島語系語言的族群，在今天卻成為許多人探索和敘述「我是誰、我和世界的關係是什麼」的一種正在形成中的身分認同。

台灣被視為五千多年前南島語族遷徙的重要起點。2000年後，「南島」逐漸成為台灣原住民族重新認識自身、連結太平洋世界的框架。另一端的諾福克島在這故事中較不為人知，是位於紐西蘭北島西北方、距離奧克蘭1100公里的澳洲屬地。島民是十八世紀英國船員和大溪地女性通婚的後裔，於1856年移居於此，某種程度上可以說是南島語族圖像中的最後一波遷徙。他們並不是傳統意義上的「原住民」，如今憑藉著大溪地母系系譜和歌舞，設法在太平洋社群中找到一席之地。

從遷徙的「起點」到近代的「末端」，這兩座島嶼共同提出一個問題：身分是來自血緣、語言、歷史或文化，還是也能以其他方式在當代被重新理解和建立？

「台灣季・在世界之間」紐西蘭站第二場講座活動，任教於國立清華大學人類學研究所、長期研究當代南島議題的副教授林浩立，將從台灣與諾福克島兩個看似遙遠、卻彼此呼應的案例出發，帶我們理解「南島世界」如何在殖民歷史、族群認同和當代太平洋關係之間，被不斷想像與定義；「南島語族」這個身分，又如何能跨越民族和國族的界線，成為連結太平洋世界的紐帶。

“Austronesian” has evolved beyond a linguistic concept into an identity through which people explore and articulate questions such as “Who am I?” and “What is my relationship to the world?” Yet constructing such an identity also means navigating the intersections and tensions between indigeneity, ethnicity, nationhood, colonialism, and decolonisation.

Taiwan is regarded as an important point of origin for Austronesian migrations that began more than 5,000 years ago. Since the 2000s, “Austronesian” has become a framework through which Indigenous peoples in Taiwan have sought to rediscover themselves and reconnect with the Pacific world.

At the other end of this migratory history is the lesser-known Norfolk Island, an Australian territory located northwest of New Zealand’s North Island. Its inhabitants are descendants of 18th-century British sailors and Tahitian women, whose descendants relocated to the island in 1856. In a sense, this relocation can be seen as one of the final waves of migration of the Austronesian peoples. Although they are not “Indigenous” in the conventional sense, today they draw on their Tahitian matrilineal ancestry, as well as song and dance traditions, in an effort to establish a place for themselves within the Pacific community.

From an early point of departure to a modern endpoint in this migratory history, these two islands raise a shared question: Is identity rooted in ancestry, language, history, or culture—or can it also be reinterpreted and reconstructed in other ways in the contemporary world?

For the second public talk of #TaiwanAcrossCities in Nowhere Aotearoa, Hao-Li Lin, Associate Professor at National Tsing Hua University, whose long-term research focuses on contemporary Austronesian issues, will take Taiwan and Norfolk Island as two seemingly distant yet resonant case studies. He will explore how the idea of an “Austronesian world” has been continually imagined and redefined at the intersections of colonial history, ethnic identity, and contemporary Pacific relations—and how an Austronesian identity can transcend ethnic and national boundaries to become a bond connecting communities across the Pacific.

Event will be in Mandarin.