[Education, Hygiene, and Savage Tribes]
Item
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Title
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[Education, Hygiene, and Savage Tribes]
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Creator
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Imperial Japan
Unknown photographer
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Date
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1926
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Description
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Black & white image printed on postcard, backing imagery and text printed in black. Text in English (Back: “POST CARD”).
Originally produced in Japan or Taiwan. Donated by Paul Barclay to Lafayette College Special Collections. There is a similar photo in an album contained in Taiwan National University's “Database of Old Taiwanese Photos” from the album: 『中部臺灣共進會誌』 which also contains photographs of the "Savage Tribes Hall."
The Central Taiwan Association Industrial Promotion Exhibition/Conference (中部臺灣共進會誌) was held in 1926, during the 15th year of Emperor Taisho’s reign. This building was the Emperor Taisho Memorial Hall (皇太子行啟紀念館) in Taisho Town, Taichung City, which was built to commemorate Prince Hirohito’s visit to Taiwan in 1923. Inside the hall was an educational museum and exhibition center dedicated to engineering and science. The text on the sign above the entrance reads, “Education and Health, [and] Barbarian Tribes” (教育衛 生番族). This deliberate wording creates a distinction between “barbarians” and “education/health”, suggesting that the two combined resulted in some form of institutional progress such as the museum/education center.
The location of this structure in an urban, more populated centre as opposed to rural grounds (now associated with indigenous peoples at this point) is a juxtaposition– the Japanese bring the “savage” into the city for educational purposes whilst indirectly labelling Taiwanese urban dwellers as the same. Despite opportunities for education and work, Taiwanese people regardless of setting were treated as second-class citizens.
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Rights
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Copyright undetermined
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Bibliographic Citation
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Unknown photographer, [ip1310] [Education, Hygiene, and Savage Tribes], 1926, ip1310, postcard. Special Collections and College Archives, Lafayette College, Easton, PA.
