recently, a few of my friends and associates here have been a bit concerned. following the cd release concert and party for Ado Kaliting Pacidal, at which Ado called me onto the stage for a few minutes, i received an invitation to perform on her talk show on Taiwan Indigenous TV. to a scholar, such interactions with the media are tricky, and my friends complained either that i was cheapening myself or seduced by the idea of being on tv. nonetheless, i decided to go on the show after talking with a few people around a’tolan

i weighed all of the reasons why i shouldn’t go on, of course: the show is entertainment and not a venue where i would actually talk about my research, it was far too possible that i would be depicted as an oddity. however, sowal no ‘amis, the taiwanese indigenous language whose study takes up much of my time, currently faces endangerment. when the objects of one’s research–which, truth be told, are not mere objects but more like dear friends whose quirks and wonders require a lifetime of conversation–might vanish from neglect or suffer from abuse, how is one to respond? this question is more than an academic one and requires more than an academic response. to me, the loss of the language, musical forms, ways of life, and landscapes created by ‘amis people in taitung would lessen my own life, not to mention that of taiwan in general. faced with the prospect of such a loss, i should do something

so, i accepted Ado’s invitation. one major reason is that sowal no ‘amis, like many indigenous languages, lacks media, which seem increasingly important for language circulation and preservation today. Ado and other indigenous songwriters working in indigenous languages perform useful work, not just as songwriters, but also as media personalities who encourage the movement of indigenous languages from the confines of marginal places on the island into more extensive circuits. the importance of these circuits is that they give indigenous youth both opportunity and confidence to study and employ these languages in urban taiwan, where mandarin language media dominate. indigenous media may also create greater interest in indigenous languages among non-indigenous taiwanese people, which could change public attitudes and, hopefully, policy. my own interest in sowal no ‘amis and ‘amis music could add to the kind of media circulation that Ado and others want to facilitate. at least, that was what Ado and others hoped

still, talk shows are not always congenial venues for scholars, particularly those of us who like to think for, um, a week or two–or maybe a year–and then form careful positions in writing, which will of course undergo peer review. i’m not sure that i always said what i might have wanted to say. thus, i’ve given an account of a couple points that i left out (in the chinese section). overall, my sense is that one should rehearse one’s answers to questions so one can make them briefly and, if possible, insert some important point between jokes. next time, i’ll try to keep that in mind

最近有些朋友跟我有小小的紛爭
是因為我上個禮拜收朋友的邀請，上16台－－原住民族電視台－－的節目，八點怎能夠。
有人說，你講阿美族語還很破，怎敢上台？
有人說，施教授，你是學者，怎敢上那種又KUSO又不一定有價值的節目？
還有人說，太臭屁了你，敢上電視！
我自己也有幾分緊張，對，當一個學者，我們習慣很清高，雖然不算什麼與世無爭，不過我們希望我們可以比一般人理性,
更想要學院是一個可以慢慢反省，增加人類智慧的地方…
不過，有時候我也覺得當我們所研究的文化面臨危急時，
我們該如何反應？
這是人生倫理的問題，
同時也屬於學術方法的問題。
而我覺得，我不甘願看我的朋友被毀壞，就算那個朋友是一個語言，一個景觀，一種音樂，
我更應該對他有責任。
所以我上了節目。

對啊，電視節目，而且並非教育性的那種…

這一方面，我相信，如果阿美族語真的要復振，需要大家，特別是年輕人，在日常生活敢用，
再者，需要各種各樣的媒體，讓我們更有機會閱讀，收聽，也給我們更多的機會創新。
而這種工作，最認真在作，應該是阿美族的歌手，
他們詳盡辦法，要讓阿美族語能夠變成時尚，好玩，
吸引族人，非族人一起珍惜，一起學習。
我自己的”雙美計畫“，無疑問也受了這些年輕歌手的影響，
所以，我上了節目，
我覺得台灣人有一個毛病，就是一直以為歐美文化才有價值，
古典音樂都會，不過對隔壁faki唱得古調，一竅不通，
還以為講英文，好像很有水準，講得很破還很會驕傲
卻不想學to sowal ni ina，kafokil 也無所謂他們
所以，我上了節目

當然，我不能改變這個事實，裡面有太多屬於整體政治，教育系統的因素
需要更多的力量，理念，決心
我只能在一個小範圍內改變幾個人的想法
也覺得，如果一個外籍學者，上電視節目，被主持人逗得臉紅可以讓人更珍惜母語，
我願意當一個小丑，不只是一次，要做幾年也值得…

當然，有一些話，我節目中沒講得十分清楚，我應該多說Suming和Ado那麼認真在從事母語創作，真讓我感動
也對我來說是一種刺激，一種鼓勵；
也應該多說Panay老老頭目，因其經過台灣20世紀的漫長歷史，從日治末期經蔣家政權到現在，跑過船被扣留，在高雄養了一個家庭，才落葉歸根
人家說他不只是malitengay而是to’as－－是耆老的耆老－－是正確的
所以對我的影響頗大，不只是在學術上，更是在人生要如何過，可以跟他學
他所培養的幽默感以及保衛部落土地，繼承傳統文化的精神，
使我在學sowal no ‘amis和製作樹皮布的同時，更進一步瞭解阿美族的傳統美德
pakafana cingra takowanan samaanen malatamdaw
當然我也不能忘記我的kapot的兄弟們
所以節目上沒有講到，好像沒有講到重點

娛樂節目跟學術性的媒體，當然不同，我希望下一次，如果有機會，表現會更好