以往人類學的研究中習慣將外來者的影響視為「干擾」既有文化的要素，但是卻往往忽略了本體文化中如何看待「他者」，以及與「他者」的互動如何型塑其社會關係與文化。本文試圖從帛琉（Republic of Palau）在十六到十九世紀與外來者頻繁的接觸過程中來討論帛琉文化中的「他者性」（otherness），也就是當地人對於「他者」認知的變化如何影響社會文化的變遷。帛琉位於亞洲與太平洋的交界處，其居民屬於南島語系的一支。早期的帛琉人多半是透過航行而來，因此帛琉文化本身對於「漂流者」的人群範疇有相當的開放性。再加上由於帛琉地處三道洋流的匯集地，除了早期漂流者眾，從可追溯的記錄中亦可見，自1579年起至1855年被西班牙統治為止，約有90多艘的歐洲船隻造訪過帛琉，頻率遠高於鄰近的太平洋島嶼。多數的歐洲人來此是為了商業利益，而在接觸世界資本主義擴張的過程中，帛琉因為頻繁接觸歐洲來的貿易者以及其所挾帶的資本主義的交換方式，而在當地從對「他者」是含括性的認同，逐漸形成另外一種排他性的我群認同。原有文化中對於「飄流者」此人群範疇的曖昧性，也提供後來的外來者與當地社會在接觸上的彈性。本文將以筆者的田野材料以及歷史文獻的爬梳中來說明帛琉對外接觸的過程中，與不同時期的「他者」之互動如何影響帛琉人對自我與「他者」的界定，進而影響文化與社會關係變遷的性質。

In the previous anthropological study researchers used to see the influences carried by outsiders as ＂interferences ＂, and also ignored how cultural subjects see ＂others＂. This article will use the historical materials mingled with the understanding from fieldwork to investigate how Palauans treat ＂others ＂, and investigate whether the category of ＂others＂ changed as European traders constantly visited Palau between 16^(th) and 19^(th) century which brought about the change of culture and society. Palau is located at the border of Asia continent and Pacific Ocean, and they belong to one of Austronesian speakers. In fact, Palauans were composed by different waves of ＂drifters＂ (meleuaoch), who had come to Palau by sailing or had drifted to Palau because of weather and current. When Palauans found a drifter, they would say ＂al l chad e te mo chedak, e a I chelid e te mo cheduk＂ (if you are human, you are our human; if you are a ghost [god], you are our ghost [god]). It means that Palauans used to accept drifters into their own society and become Palauans. Therefore, ＂drifters＂ was an open-ended category of people in Palauan culture. From 1570 to 1855, before Palau was colonized by Spain, there were more than 90 European ships had visited Palau. Most Europeans came to Palau to pursue economic profits, and brought Palau into world capitalism. When the massive European traders visited Palau, Palauans settled them in a separated island, Malakal, and called them chad ra ngebard (people from the west). This was different from their cosmology before: there are only human [Palauans] and ghost (or god) in the world. Palauans' concept of people had changed, and formed another category of people, people from the west. The visiting of these European traders also entailed a new social relation: a contract relation. Europeans traders exchanged muskets and cannons with trepan, turtle shell and corpora under Chief Ibadul's administration. To sum up, the coming of these European traders had entailed two kinds of changes. The first, the changing concept of ＂others＂, from an open-ended category into inclusive and exclusive categories of people. The former one referred to those ＂others＂ who wants to stay in Palau and merged into Palau's society through adoption or marriage. The later one indicated those who came here to trade and left soon. The definition of ＂others＂ in Palauan culture is so flexible that it still enables Palauans to take ＂inclusive outsiders＂ into Palau's society without interfering their own social and cultural mechanism, but also interact with ＂exclusive outsiders＂ as well. The second, they started a new social relation, the contract relation. Palau is famous for their highly receptivity to difference cultures. However, this account can not depict the dynamic dimension of Palau's culture, but just a hindsight. After investigating the historical literature with the understanding from fieldwork, I suggest that, we should take ＂otherness＂ into account when considering the process of cultural formation. Especially in Pacific societies, the people who are master in sailing, therefore there would be successive outsiders coming all the time. If we ignore the importance of ＂outsiders＂ in shaping the contour of culture and society it would blind us from seeing the way of people's grouping, also the connection between groups and cultures. Only by understanding the ＂otherness＂ in a culture, we can depict a more accurate picture of the characters of cultural change.