Abstract
Clothing is a traditional means of differentiating hierarchy in Paiwan society. Designs of clothing are connected with holiness of households and mythology; with them people demonstrate their legitimacy. Like sculpture and names, clothing is regarded as an inalienable wealth. It is beyond substance and functions as a medium for defining humanity. Paiwan clothing is held by individual families and handed down within. Exchange or circulation is rare in order to sustain legitimacy of social status. Nowadays atitan adopts mamazakinlan’s designs and names more frequently. Ritual exchange is not the only means of circulating them. It is the commercial production of Paiwan clothing that increases the availability of mamazakinlan’s designs. As a result, the distinction between atitan and mamazakinlan appears reduced. Discussing production and consumption of clothing, this thesis illustrates a hierarchical change of contemporary Paiwan society, and the foundation of this hierarchy. The first section explores how Paiwan people manipulate symbolism and materiality of clothing in process of exchange, and how clothing reproduces hierarchy. The second section records how household production of clothing transformed into a commercial, transnational enterprise, and how this change influences values of clothing and Paiwan social relation. The third one illuminates how the emergence of contemporary Paiwan clothing inherits from as well as impacts upon classic one.