FIELDNOTE_ 0419_NALUWAN_ANNABELLE

When I sat down with my Ahma, she brought out a few stacks of photos from the past. Each photo held so many memories and stories, some she looked at and reminisced and smiled, while others she looked at blankly. Perhaps she couldn't remember the story behind each and every photo, or some photographs may have reminded her of certain moments in her life that she'd rather forget. 

There was a photo of the tribe from Hualien and Taidong dancing together. Everybody was grinning from ear to ear in their traditional Amis costume, dancing together in sync and having the time of their lives. When I picked up a photo and asked her, "Is this you?" She laughed and told me that it was actually her daughter. They actually look like carbon copies of each other!

And interestingly, I noticed that the Amis people did not actually look very "Chinese". In a sense, they had darker skin than the typical Taiwanese and had very different facial structures. Many of the Amis have very high nose bridges and their eyes are almond-shaped. 

Furthermore, my Ahma brought a sheet of paper with some Amis words. She told me that this worksheet was used to teach the younger generations in the Amis tribe how to speak. Although the older generation can speak fluently, the younger generations (ranging from those who are currently babies to those in their 30s) can barely speak it. Most of the middle-aged Amis people are able to hear and understand, but are unable to speak it fluently at all.

I found it really interesting, so I began to read out the words and ask the Ahma if I was pronouncing them correctly. We started bonding over the words and it was really fun to learn something entirely new. At that moment, I realized that some of the words from the Amis language were actually the same as some Malay words. Having attended nursery in Malaysia, I can remember certain terms in Malay. Turns out, the Amis tribe and Malay people are actually considered Austronesian and that's possibly why some of the words may be the same! Even Tagalog (language that Philippinos speak) is similar to the Amis language. 

To me, this was such an amazing and eye-opening discovery, especially when I was enlightened and aware about how the world and its interconnectedness through varying languages that stem from similar roots. Furthermore, the skin color and biological similarities in terms of facial structure really awed me... 

But then all these realizations suddenly hit me: Most of these Austronesians were not chased away from their homes or forced to move away. So in the case of the Amis, when the older generations migrate or move elsewhere, their children will likely no longer be as connected to their roots and hence will not be fluent when speaking in their mother tongue language. So when this happens, will they still recognise where their ancestors were from as their roots? Or will this eventually die off, and future generations will not know where they're originally from? How do they consider which area is their home –  the one their ancestors are from or the place they were born in?