THE CHANGING STATUS AND SUBJECTIVITY OF THE ABORIGINES IN TAIWAN'S LABOR MARKETS

The forces of globalization marginalized the labor market status of Taiwan's indigenous people. The lingering fear of being excluded caused a shrinking of subjectivity. Under the circumstances, not only the working knowledge the indigenous people had did not gain respect from the dominant Han people, but their competence for knowledge production was also questioned. The year of 1989 can be regarded as an important turning point to the indigenous people in Taiwan for their labor-market status started to decline rapidly due to the lifting of the ban on importing foreign labor force. This labor-market disadvantage did not recover until the 1997 setup of the Council of Indigenous Peoples. Reflecting upon the impact of this great political change on indigenous peoples. In this respect, this paper examines the subjectivity changes in the labor market participation of indigenous people at different stages of economic development and political change in Taiwan.