Following a recent theoretical shift to view the state as a powerful site of symbolic
and cultural production that is in itself always culturally represented and
understood in particular ways, this article is concerned with how the Bunun, an
Austronesian-speaking indigenous people of Taiwan, perceive and imagine the state. I
point out that the Bunun use their own idioms of kinship and political leadership to
understand and construct their relationship with the state, in order to transform
the state from an external and potentially dangerous force into a positive and
benevolent provider. In attempting to oblige the state to deliver material and
social goods, the Bunun place emphasis on their compliance rather than their
resistance to the state. However, I argue that compliance, rather than being passive
accommodation, can be a kind of ‘quite effective agency’ in
Ortner's (1997: 148) terms, and challenge the recent theoretical
preoccupation with resistance.
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