AUSTRONESIAN TAIWAN：Linguistics．History．Ethnology．Prehistory

　　It is hard to imagine a more useful book than this one on the indigenous peoples of .
　　An extraordinary amount of research has been carried out on these groups, but this is the first volume to provide a guide to it for the English reader.
　　In a single volume Blundell and his colleagues thoroughly review more than a century of research on all aspects of “aboriginal studies” in , from archaeology to linguistics, from kinship and mortuary practices to the globalization of music and dance performances.
　　There is even an update of theories about the role of in the dispersal of Austronesian speakers across the Pacific.
　　More than a review of past research, this work also presents new information and new insights about Taiwan’s Austronesian citizens, both today and in historical perspective, including their new political and cultural visibility in Taiwan and overseas and the precarious situation of their languages in our era of world-wide linguistic consolidation.
　　David K.
　　Jordan, Professor Emeritus Department of Anthropology University of California , San Diego

　　David Blundell, Ph.
　　D.
　　in cultural anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, has lived in Taiwan for more than twenty years.
　　Work on life histories and visual documentation from the emic point of view best describes his research methods.
　　His studies have contributed to the understanding of Taiwanese folk belief systems, especially the Tachia pilgrimage.
　　Since the 1980s, Blundell has participated in research on the sources and living cultures of the Taiwan Austronesian-speaking peoples.
　　New work focuses on concepts and theories of dialogue relationships and language acquisition based on case studies in the region.
　　This research shares an edge with his previous South Asian studies, Masks: Anthropology on the Sinhalese Belief System (NY: Peter Lang, 1994), to elicit separate voices in cultural systems with attention to ethnicity, linguistic diversity, and concepts of heritage.
　　Blundell offers Cultural and Ethnic Structure of Taiwan (臺灣的文化與族群結構) at National Chengchi University in Taipei.