Paul Barclay's Outcasts of Empire: Japan's Rule on Taiwan's “Savage Border,” 1874–1945 is a meticulously researched treatise on the complicated history of Taiwan's indigenous populations. He details how these groups have had to negotiate their quasi-sovereignty living amid Han settlers from China during the late Qing (1644–1912) dynasty and Japanese colonial bureaucrats during Japan's occupation of Taiwan (1895–1945). Barclay also considers more contemporary Taiwanese identity formation that includes recognition of Taiwan's indigenous populations: the Atayal, Bunun, Saisiyat, Tsou, Amis, Paiwan, Rukai, and Puyuma peoples.
Outcasts of Empire contributes to an already rich scholarly conversation about what it means to be Taiwanese in a country long ruled by outsiders. However, focus on the aborigines of Taiwan is still a rather new thread in this conversation. Robert Tierney's Tropics of Savagery is one example.1
Barclay's work adds another important layer to the study of Taiwan's indigenous communities by looking at how...
