The objects of my inquiry of this thesis are divided into four categories. Firstly, I explore how Paiwanese social organization and genealogical systems are based on a primogenitary system. Secondly, I examine the representational systems that convey cultural meanings that are in turn encoded in three kinds of material culture. Thirdly, I investigate how artefacts reflect Paiwanese social structure, so as to explore the underlying order that is expressed in certain art forms, and parallels Paiwanese social structure. Fourthly, I explore the aesthetic expression specific to Paiwanese art forms and integrated with wider cultural values. Fifthly, I discuss contemporary art production and tourist art development within their own historical trajectories to reveal changing attitudes towards the production of art objects as well as the changing functions of these artefacts.

This thesis reveals therefore, that artefacts convey meaningful social information through the encoding of different representational systems; that forms of material culture can be structured, and can reflect social organization; that aesthetic attributes can be associated with a cultural value system, and that artefact production can reflect the continuities of historical developments within the Paiwanese group.