Les représentations de la panthère nébuleuse à Taïwan : usages et résilience dans les débats contemporains

Abstract

This article considers the relationship between the Paiwan tribe in Taiwan and the clouded leopard. This research studies the headdresses and traditional clothes made from the skin and teeth of this leopard for the Paiwan community chief and his family. These ornaments give to the person wearing them some prestige as an emblem of power related to the clouded leopard seen as a sacred animal. Presently, while the leopards are extinct since few decades, Taiwan think about reintroducing it in the southern part of Taiwan mountain range, between Taitung and Pintung counties. Though, in this aim, it seems necessary to understood the interaction between the Paiwan tribe and this animal. The symbolic importance of this animal for the Paiwan have change over time and with the social and environmental changes. The objects made from clouded leopard have been modified by the disappearing of the feline and the meaning associated to them have also changed. The debate about a possible reintroduction of this feline induces many reactions and questioning and pushes to wonder about the effect of the discourse environmental conservationist on the local level.

Keywords

• clouded leopard
• Paiwan
• extinction
• precious goods
• scientific discourses