Syaman Rapongan's ontological and literary practices

What is it about?

To describe his difference from Hemingway, Syaman Rapongan, Taiwan’s important ocean literature writer from the Indigenous Tao people, produced the pithy line: “My body is ocean literature.” This remark does not just refer to his traditional way of life on Orchid Island but also signifies his writing practice, using the Chinese language, which does not belong to his people, to depict their ecological symbiotic relationship with the ocean. In this article, I put forward a theory of medium that corresponds to Syaman Rapongan’s writing practice, which maintains an entangled, immersive relationship with the environment. Furthermore, his writing should be paired with the Tao traditional boat, which he makes by hand himself. By means of this double boat-pen structure, I produce and explicate the concept of dual mediation that connects ontological with technical mediation. This dual practice might point a way for us to imagine an entangled relationship between technics and the environment, a task that is urgently crucial in our age of the Anthropocene.

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Photo by Zunnoon Ahmed on Unsplash

Photo by Zunnoon Ahmed on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article combines theory studies and literary studies, bridging two different fields of research, and engages with very recent concerns with ecology, ontology, and media theory. Its analysis of Syaman Rapongan aims to deepen studies in Taiwanese Indigenous literature, and to showcase a practice that is significant to our contemporary world facing grave ecological challenges.

Perspectives