Scott E. Simon

Introduction

Scott E. Simon studied East Asian Studies and German at Indiana University, before moving to Canada (his mother's country) to do graduate studies in Anthropology at McGill University, Montréal. He chose anthropology because he wanted to travel, hang out with people, and write about their lives. In 1996, he came to Taiwan for the first time to do one year of ethnographic research, but ultimately stayed five years. Since 2004, he has done research in Truku and Seediq Indigenous communities. He has also done fieldwork in Tainan, on Orchid Island, Kinmen / Matsu, Guam, and Japan. He has written four book-length ethnographies about Taiwan, the most recent being "Truly Human: Indigeneity and Indigenous Resurgence on Formosa." In addition to writing multi-species and phenomenological ethnography, he also writes academic articles, essays and blogs about Taiwan. When he is not in Taiwan, he teaches anthropology and sociology at the University of Ottawa.

Resident planning

I plan to work on my multi-species ethnographic book "Life on the Flyway." This book will have a theoretical introduction, four chapters about Japan, an ethnographic interlude about Micronesia, four chapters about various birds in Taiwan, and an epilogue about Kinmen / Matsu. The birds are the Black-faced Spoonbill in Tainan, the Brown Booby in Orchid Island, the Grey-cheeked Fulvetta in the central mountains, and the Formosan Magpie in Taipei. The peoples include Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. I expect to finish the theoretical introduction about phenomenology and some chapters about Japan before arriving in Taiwan. My goal is to think and write about the historical entanglements between humans and birds, but also between different human groups, along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. During my stay, I plan to focus on the worlds that are spun together where spoonbills encounter conservationists and Taoists in the wetlands of the Taijiang Inner Sea.