本文從人類學的角度探討高雄大眾捷運系統。本文討論的重點放在高雄 捷運的文化意義和背後的認同政治。文化在此指涉的不是日常生活的細節， 而是一個集體人群的世界觀，包括他們對現實此刻的認知、與奠基在現實此 刻認知上的對未來可能性的想像。相應地，大眾捷運系統做為一項運輸科技 的功能不在於對此時此刻生活的影響，而在於它幫助促成想像的未來可能 性。在這樣的思考下，高雄捷運的重要性在於它可以被視為臺灣當下面臨的 全球、國家與在地不同層級（scales)力量角力或合流的交點，高捷做為一 個借喻突顯了臺灣當前重要的政治、經濟、社會、文化等問題，而不同層級 力量的角力或合流也提供了不同的思考與認知的可能性。

The Mass Rapid Transit system in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, reveals a paradox that challenges the effect of homogenization and the negative judgment of this effect embedded in the theoretical discussions of global city formation. It points to the danger of equating and privileging the local as a space of authenticity and community while associating the global with the abstract and universal. A “non-place” like a subway system attains great meanings, to the extent that it becomes a reflection of the nation, in the Taiwanese context precisely because it is considered as devoid of any specific historiography. This “jumping of scales” is facilitated by the recent development in both the global capitalist expansion and Taiwan’s accommodation to this expansion, under which the city emerges as the linkage between a national (or regional) economy and the global economy. This economic turn provides new possibilities for the Taiwanese to envision their collective identity.