Between Concert Hall and Museum: Musics and Identities of Taiwanese Indigenous People (Asian Studies)

How do music, performance spaces, and cultural memory shape the identities of Indigenous communities in a rapidly modernizing world?

Between Concert Hall and Museum: Musics and Identities of Taiwanese Indigenous People by Chun-bin Chen explores the dynamic relationship between Indigenous musical traditions and contemporary cultural institutions in Taiwan.

Through vivid musical stories set in Taiwan's National Concert Hall, Indigenous villages, and the National Museum of Prehistory, the book examines how Indigenous musicians navigate spaces that symbolize modernity, heritage, and cultural preservation. Drawing on performances, village rituals, museum exhibitions, and the Festival of Austronesian Cultures, Chen reveals how music becomes a powerful medium through which Taiwanese Indigenous people reconnect with their past while negotiating their place in the present.

The book also reflects on the idea of a uniquely Indigenous form of diaspora, where feelings of displacement can occur even within one's homeland. By highlighting musical performance as a pathway to cultural continuity and belonging, this work offers a compelling perspective on indigeneity, identity, and cultural resilience in contemporary society.

Ideal for students and scholars in Asian studies, ethnomusicology, world music, anthropology, and cultural studies

Chun-bin Chen is Professor of Musicology at Taipei National University of the Arts whose research focuses on music, identity, and Taiwanese Indigenous musical cultures.