“We Work for our Land, not the Certification”: Affective Indigeneity in Organic Farming by the Talampo Amis of Taiwan

• In Event: Feeling Food, Manufacturing Hope: Critical Studies in Affect and Labour

Abstract

This paper deals with the affective aspect of indigenous discourse, the recognition of land ethics, and the politics of indigenous organic farming. In the making of organic certification and systematic wild vegetable “domestication,” traditional ecological knowledge are standardized as translating scales into models. Through the help of empowering NGOs, the organic farming transition changed the perception of the indigenous landscape; the community tourism introduced by the NGOs branded to “experience the change” brings another aspect of consumption on affective labor of indigenous lifestyle. This paper takes the Talampo Amis community in Eastern Taiwan as an example in showcasing the relationships in the consumption of laboring affects and discourse of diligence as reflective/resistant alternatives to conventional food production and indigenous tourism. While the unfriendly policies toward Amis farmland intensify the difficulties of organic certification, the engagement of traditional knowledge and church organization helps to promote indigenous identity. The valley farmland acquires its nicknamed “Dark Tribe” for lack of infrastructure, but the discourse of “working with the native” helps to attract backpackers to learn the “natural” way as well as the land title controversies on the ground. This paper examines the application of affective labor in indigenous organic farming as a surplus from ethnic branding. It also analyzes how indigenous farmers engage with empowering NGOs for a gift economy and turns organic farming into discourse of devotion under the capitalism of food certification and production.

Author

• Yi-tze Lee, National Dong Hwa University