Abstract
Abstract The main thesis of this paper is to figure out how and why people resist “Poyu Development Plan”, an urban development plan in Zhubei area, Taiwan. The “Poyu Development Plan” is also known as the Construction of Taiwan Knowledge Economy Park. When the development plan was proposed, people lived in Zhubei area formed the Anti-poyu Organization as an initiation against Poyu Development Plan. In 2009, Taiwan Rural Front, organization established by several academics and activists, became the major force to against zone expropriation in Taiwan. With the help of Taiwan Rural Front, the appeal of the anti-poyu movement has changed into anti-zone-expropriation. According my five-year fieldwork, anti-poyu movement however has followed another logic of action, which cannot be in accordance with the appeal of anti-zone expropriation. Thus, this paper mainly aims to explain the logic of action behind anti-poyu movement. I define my methodology as a “development ethnography”. The framework of this methodology is inspired by The Weapon of the Weak, a classic anthropology works in contemporary by James Scott. On the other hand, the content of this ethnography refers to the studies of post-development school and the research by Professor Ya-Chung Chuang, et al. With this development ethnography, I hope to give an explanation about how the force of anti-poyu movement is organized during a rapid developing era, and what people really think of development. By the means of “pay-for-land” zone expropriation, the local government was able to expropriate the land they need with little resistance, yet the landlords meanwhile could accumulate their wealth with these “pay-for-lands”. With a “daily-life –network” in local society, these experiences of accumulation would transform into a collective mentality that accounts for the means of how people value the institution of zone expropriation. In spite of material and institutional condition, both an expecting growth of science park and a “university-city” discourse support zone-expropriation development in Zhubei. Whereas, few decades later, people finally began to question about the liability of these developmental plans after the expectations and goals have fallen. Through the “development ethnography”, I hope to give a picture on how self-interest in anti-poyu movement has been constructed in chronicle and historical perspectives. Within a long duration of development, actors are searching for the suitable ways of living, which yet cannot be simply regarded as taking free rides. Above all, the logic of action in anti-poyu movement is a protest against the content of Poyu Development Plan. The protest reflects the fact that rather than an overall resistance to zone expropriation institution, the locals does not satisfy the arrangement for the plan, and they hardly believed in what authorities has proclaimed: the development plan will eventually benefit to economy. Keywords: development ethnography, Poyu Development Plan, social movement, Zhubei, zone expropriation.