Disasters, Migration and Landscapes of Spirituality: a Case Study on the Post-Morokot Reconstruction with the Lai-Ji Village of the Tsou Tribe

This study aims to conceptualize the relationship amongst natural disasters, migration, and spiritual landscapes. The Lai-ji village of the Tsou tribe is chosen as a study site. The village’s post-morokot reconstruction experiences are the focus to enquiry about their resistance to the government’s relocation policy and their power behind the resistance. Moreover, the study also likes to know if there is a relationship between the resistant power and their traditional ecological knowledge. What is the relationship amongst different families in the village and their migratory history concerning some drastic environmental change? Is the landscape of spirituality an integrating force to these differences? What are the Christian churches’ roles in the village? This study will employ a participatory action-oriented methodology to study these above questions. The researchers have been accompanied the villagers since the occurrence of the Morokot typhoon and their reconstruction. Through participating the issues of returning to the so called “152 Forestry Zone” which used to be their traditional territory, researchers have established a basic trust with the villagers. The study will base upon the accompanied process to explore some deeper questions related to their spirituality and the daily life of their reconstruction work. The study propose a three years period to ask some questions in the following: in the first year, it is necessary to know the spatial distribution of the families in the village and their relationship with the Tsou tribe; in the second year, the main question is to know their history to experience different natural disasters in time and their responses towards them. In addition to the material and cultural aspects, the study is interested to know their spirituality towards the natural and social changes; in the third year, there is a need to conceptualize the previous two years research outcomes about the natural disasters, migration and their spirituality and put them in a wider context to answer some questions from ethno-science and even the government policies related to these issues.