廟宇在地方政治中的角色：嘉義縣溪口鄉北極殿的個案研究

Abstract

地方派系長久以來無論在實務或學術上都受到相當多注意，無非是它影響政治發展和資源分配。然而，就最為基層的鄉鎮層級地方派系而言，過去研究並不多，但它卻是最貼近人們生活的一個政治活動空間。而地方信仰中心，往往擁有一定的祭祀圈與各項資源，但過去政治學界討論並不豐富。事實上，信仰中心絕非只是提供心靈慰藉和道德層次提昇而已。當信仰中心擁有人脈和錢等各項資源後，便可能藉此資源運作和地方政治產生一定互動關係。因此，本研究將探討最為基層的鄉鎮層級地方派系實際運作情形，以及地方信仰中心所在地的廟宇在地方政治中所扮演的角色究竟為何。 本研究以嘉義縣溪口鄉為實際研究個案，並在研究當中，大量以第一手訪談資料，詳實勾勒出溪口鄉從過去至今派系發展實況。在地方派系研究當中，補充說明過去較少觸及的鄉鎮層級派系實際運作情況。並以這些實證資料，和過去政治學相關研究進行對話。另在地方信仰中心的廟宇部分，以文化和歷史之視角，詳細討論族群和地方優勢主神以及相關信仰議題。而關於地方信仰中心與地方政治互動過程，則爬梳彼此資源和人員運作過程，並探究地方信仰中心所在地的廟宇是否有其強大的政治影響力、及其背後原因為何。然而，本研究僅以該鄉為研究場域，探討過去所較為不熟悉的地方派系運作實況。如果要有更深入和全面的瞭解，則要再進行該鄉其他場域的比較研究；另一方面，也應該以同樣議題，進行不同鄉鎮市之比較研究。方能更加瞭解台灣地方政治生態全貌。

Local factions have long drawn the attention from both practices and academia of politics because of their influence in political development and resource allocation. However, few past studies centered local factions of villages or townships, which are the most grassroots, and yet they are the political realm closest to people’s life. Local religious centers have certain degrees of control over their temple communities and various sorts of resources, but there has been relatively little discussion on this in studies of politics. In fact, religious centers do not only provide spiritual comfort and moral enhancement. When religious centers have resources such as the network of locals and money, they may interact with local politics through these. Therefore, the study attempts to explore the practices of local factions at the most grassroots village/ township level, and the roles of temples locating in the religious centers play in local politics. The study takes Sikou Township, Chiayi as the subject of research and elaborates the development of political factions there from the past until the present using a great amount of first-hand data from interviews. Operation of local factions at the village/ township level, which was rarely talked about, is added to complement past studies of local factions. These positive facts are then used to communicate with related studies in politics. In terms of the temples of the local religious center, a cultural and historical view is applied to discuss relevant topics on ethnic groups, the advantaged gods and issues of faith. In respect of the process of interaction between local religious centers and local politics, the operation of the network of locals and resources is combed through to analyze if the temples locating in the religious centers have great political influence and the reasons thereof. However, this study takes only Sikou Township as the research subject to explore the rather obscure operation of local factions. Comparative studies of other arenas of the township will be necessary if one attempts deeper and more comprehensive understanding. Likewise, comparative research between this township and other villages, townships or cities on the same issue should be conducted to better understand the whole picture of local politics in Taiwan.