Betel
nut chewing is a social practice that articulates boundaries. The
history of betel nut chewing in Southern China indexes the ways in
which non-Han minorities were sinicized, demonstrating how betel nut
chewing culture was appropriated by Han nobles, and variously
incorporated into Han cultural expressions in the southern region.
In
Taiwan betel nut chewing marks boundaries between groups in terms of
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. The stigmatization of
betel nut in Taiwan is explained by political, economic, and historical
factors related to the Japanese colonial prohibition and subsequent KMT
neglect of a newly revitalized betel nut industry. Ethnic, gender and
socioeconomic status was articulated by a re-introduced and fully
commoditized practice of betel nut chewing, divorced from its former
social significance, which continued only among Indigenous groups of
the southeastern coast and in Orchid Island ( Lanyu ).
Marketing strategies involving "betel nut beauties" developed in the
betel nut retailing business, since almost all betel nut chewers were
men. Perspectives within the betel nut industry reveal the economic
incentives that contributed to this "shadow economy." The symbolic
nature of betel nut among the "Indigenous betel nut chewing cultures"
of southeastern Taiwan articulates themes of cultural prosperity and
wealth. Tourism development is based on cultivating Indigenous cultural
capital.
In Hainan betel nut chewing
marks boundaries between local islanders and outsiders. The Utsat, a
Muslim Austronesian-language speaking people, and Li language-speaking
peoples in urban and rural villages provide non-Han "minority"
perspectives within Hainan. Interethnic relations among Han, Utsat and
Li are marked by salient cultural differences, though all share a
common betel nut chewing culture. The use of betel nut in Utsat, Li,
and Hainanese weddings show continued social and symbolic significance.
Betel nut production and retailing remains integrated in the
traditional economy. Modern tourism development restricts betel nut
chewing, but local betel nut chewers respond to limitations by further
embodying the habit.
A comparative
analysis of betel nut chewing cultures in Taiwan and Hainan reveals
that internal boundaries are marked in Taiwan, and outsider/insider
status is marked in Hainan. Analysis of the symbolic nature of betel
nut and the process of chewing is found to relate to gendered
complementary practice at its root, and extends to various expressions
of betel nut in its social and ritual forms. The "choice" to chew or
not arises from the socially constructed nature of chewing "appetites,"
and shows how modern habits and traditional rituals of betel nut
chewing cultures coexist and interrelate with each other differently in
Taiwan and Hainan.
