A review by sam_bizar_wilcox
Hunter School by Sakinu Ahronglong, 亞榮隆‧撒可努

5.0

In this small, stunning series of reflections, Sakinu Ahronglong meditates on his experience as a hunter in the alpine Taiwanese mountains. Yet, the book is more a comment on what it means to be an ethnic minority -- part of the indigenous Paiwanese community -- in a rapidly urbanizing country. There's an interesting commentary on how the indigenous people are treated in Taiwan. In one passage, Ahronglong thinks about how the anthropologists and social scientists who studied the Paiwanese should have to develop the film and photographs they took and share them with the indigenous communities--a giving back, rather than simply taking. In another incident, he muses on how his education was biased against the traditional wisdom of his father and his ancestors and wonders why children are schooled in roughly similar ways. If anything, this book sheds light on a group of people who are often overlooked, particularly when considering the larger global conflict between Taiwan and mainland China. Certainly, for me, it led to questions about the right to land ownership and colonization, but it's carried by sparkling prose and insight.