Political Technology of Apple: Territorial Politics and Economy of the Mountain Agriculture in Taiwan

Abstract

戰後台灣高山農業的發展之初並不僅僅是種植溫帶水果的任務，也是一項政治任務，國民政府藉由將自然地景轉變為農地的過程，深化其對高山土地與人的控制，成為國家實質的「領域」（territory），也就是政治領域化的過程。我們以梨山的高山農業種植（以蘋果為縮影）來討論這一個故事。中橫公路修築後一連串的土地測量、分配與整地的工作，表面是發展高山農業的措施，背後挾帶的是國家對高山地區的實質掌控；然而，當土地與其上的經濟作物都從這個過程成為「財產」（property），市場經濟的運作邏輯也就跟著深入梨山地區的高山農業。在不同事件的作用力下，我們以蘋果為案例，包括台灣戰後美援政治下的蘋果意象、對進口蘋果開放的農業全球化政策、社會環境意識抬頭下的高山農業土地利用限縮、食安議題下對「本土蘋果」的重新想像與認同等等，也讓梨山地區的蘋果，甚或整個台灣的高山農業，不斷地在變動的市場中持續著對外不同人事物的聯繫，而這些更迭的聯繫便是經濟去領域化、再領域化、再去領域化連續進程的體現。因此，從戰後台灣高山農業種植到產銷的案例，政治的領域化啟動了後續經濟去領域化的動能，而所謂的政治領域化與經濟去領域化的對立，儼然過度簡化了政治力、經濟力與領域三者的關係。

By tracing the historical trajectory of temperate fruit production in Taiwan, particularly apples, this essay aims to understand the symbolic and material changes of Taiwan`s mountain agriculture. Focusing on the post-World War II period to the present, we argue that the development of mountain agriculture in Taiwan operates as a political technology. Territory as political technology requires the political-legal mechanisms of the state to authorize power in maintaining order inside its territorial sovereignty. Meanwhile, political technology also comprises political-technical dimensions such as surveying and mapping techniques in order to produce a ＂legible＂ territory for both the state and the market. Specifically, this work focuses on Lishan, a major apple production area, located in Taiwan`s Central Mountain Range, to explore the relationship between mountain agriculture and the politics of territorialization. Throughout our analysis, we intend to shed light on how the development of mountain agriculture was not just a mission for the production of temperate fruits per se, but also a political project to turn the mountain landscape into a controllable territory of farmlands. In other words, we use Lishan to illustrate the relationship between the production of mountain agriculture and the increase of state control over its Central Mountain Range area, a political territorialization process. Additionally, we argue that this political territorialization has simultaneously brought economic deterritorialization, by connecting Taiwan`s Central Mountain Range to the market economy. This political territorialization, and simultaneous economic deterritorialization, reflects the dynamic relationship between mountain agriculture and society in Taiwan.