UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Re-conceptualizing Taiwan: Settler Colonial Criticism and Cultural Production Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30h7d8r5 Author Tsai, Lin-chin Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Re-conceptualizing Taiwan: Settler Colonial Criticism and Cultural Production A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures by Lin-chin Tsai 2019 © Copyright by Lin-chin Tsai 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Re-conceptualizing Taiwan: Settler Colonial Criticism and Cultural Production by Lin-chin Tsai Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor Shu-mei Shih, Chair This dissertation examines a diverse body of postwar cultural production in Taiwan (1945 to the present), including literary, cinematic, and other forms of media texts, through the lens of settler colonial criticism. Taiwan, an island whose indigenous inhabitants are Austronesian, has been a de facto settler colony due to large-scale Han migration from China to Taiwan beginning in the seventeenth century. However, the prevailing discourse in Taiwan, particularly in the field of Taiwan literature studies, has been “postcolonial,” articulating Taiwan either in terms of the end of the Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945) or the lifting of the Martial Law (1949-87), neither of which acknowledges the continued colonization of indigenous peoples. Furthermore, Taiwan has long been excluded from the global arena of settler colonial studies. Owing to the twofold invisibility of Taiwan as a settler colony in both local and global contexts, I employ the analytical ii framework of settler colonialism—a specific colonial formation whereby settlers displace the indigenous residents and take over the land—so as to address the discursive limits and academic blind spots described above. More specifically, this research project mobilizes settler colonial criticism to critically reflect on various media/genres of contemporary cultural production by Han Taiwanese authors as settlers in order to challenge current academic trends and the Han settler structure of Taiwan. In so doing, this dissertation not only fills in the gaps of the postcolonial paradigm in Taiwan but also provides significant insights for global settler colonial studies based on Taiwan’s unique experience. As such, it contributes to the redistribution of knowledge production in Taiwan’s intellectual sphere, partaking of the recent calls for “indigenous transitional justice” as a means of decolonization. In this sense, to re-conceptualize Taiwan as a settler colony through examining its cultural production is not only to re-situate Taiwan onto the world map of settler colonial studies but also to reimagine a new form of relational ethics between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities in Taiwan. iii The dissertation of Lin-chin Tsai is approved. Michael Stanford Berry Kirstie M. McClure Jasmine Nadua Trice Shu-mei Shih, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2019 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Re-conceptualizing Taiwan as Settler Society Chapter 1 50 Mapping Formosa: Settler Colonial Cartography in Taiwan Cinema in the 1950s Chapter 2 86 Encounters at the Crossroad: Indigeneity and Alternative Media since the 1980s Chapter 3 134 “The Peoples without History”: Indigenous Representation and Interethnic Relations in Taiwan Fiction Chapter 4 186 Reconstructing the Founding Legend: The Politics of Settler Literary Representation of Zheng Chenggong Coda 240 Toward a Redistribution of Knowledge Production Bibliography 248 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe my deepest appreciation first and foremost to my doctoral advisor Professor Shu-mei Shih. As a well-established scholar, Professor Shih has not only broadened my horizons by inspiring me with her thought-provoking scholarship and innovative views, she has also set a model for me as an intellectual who actively contributes to both academia and society. Her mentorship enables me to critically reflect on my ethical position as a scholar. Without her patience and support, this research project would have never been possible. My sincere thanks also go to all of my committee members. Professor Michael Berry’s great knowledge of Chinese literature and cinema, as well as his generosity and enthusiasm, has always encouraged me to try harder on my doctoral journey. Professor Kirstie McClure introduced me to the realm of Western philosophy and theory, and motivated me to further explore the entangled relations between politics, literature, and other forms of art. Professor Jasmine Nadua Trice’s seminars on film theories and non-Western cinema stimulated me to incorporate Taiwan cinema into my project, which makes this dissertation more comprehensive. Their intelligence and insight have largely cultivated my ways of seeing and thinking about the world, and significantly shaped the scope of my project. I have been fortunate to meet many wonderful human beings in this fabulous city of angels—professors, colleagues, friends, students, and several others who I am unable to thank by name. Thank you all for bringing joy and color into my life, and helping me become a better person. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family for their unconditional love and unreserved support. I give my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, my grandparents, and my sister: Your company, tolerance, and belief in me have allowed me to continue my adventure in this fantastic world. I dedicate this dissertation to my dearest family, and the forever beautiful island Taiwan. vi VITA 2007 B.A. in Chinese Literature, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 2010 M.A. in Modern Chinese Literature, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 定居者 (“Settler”). 台灣理論關鍵詞 (Keywords of Taiwan Theory), edited by Shu-mei Shih, Chia-ling Mei, Chaoyang Liao, and Dung-sheng Chen, Linking Publishing, 2019, pp. 113-130. “Mapping Formosa: Settler Colonial Cartography in Taiwan Cinema in the 1950s.” Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies 44.2 (Sep. 2018), pp. 19-50. 百年降生：1900-2000 臺灣文學故事 (100 Years of Taiwan Literature: 1900-2000), edited by Su-yon Lee, Linking Publishing, 2018 (Co-authored with Su-yon Lee, Ching-yao Ho, Wen-shuang Lin, Yi-hang Ma, Yun-yuan Chen, Hao-wei Sheng, Min-xu Zhan, Jie-ming Yang, Fang-ting Cheng, Junyi Xiao, Na Yen). 「以母親的歌聲啟航」：北美原住民詩人哈喬（Joy Harjo）的詩意正義 (“‘Navigate by Your Mother’s Voice’: Native American Poet Joy Harjo’s Poetic Justice”). Youth Literary 776 (August 2018), pp. 36-8. 故鄉何處是——漫談《家在台北》中顯影的定居者意識 (“Weary Birds Must Fly Back to Their Nests: On the Settler Consciousness in Bai Jingrui’s Home Sweet Home”). Youth Literary 775 (July 2018), pp. 120-2. 「像季節的海浪不斷繞島行走」：零雨詩的驛動空間與島嶼圖景 (“Like the Waves of Seasons Circling around the Island: the Motion-space and Islandscape in Ling Yu’s Poems”). Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine 33 (Dec. 2016), pp. 83-92. 水色越南：「越南三部曲」與《戀戀三季》的詩／濕意閱讀 (“Flowing Vietnam: On Tran Anh Hung’s Vietnam Trilogy and Tony Bui’s Three Seasons”). Film Appreciation Academic Journal 17 (July 2013), pp. 25-42. Master’s Thesis: 夢想傾斜：「運動—詩」的可能──以零雨、夏宇、劉亮延詩作為例 (The Dreaming-Slope: on Ling Yu, Xia Yu and Liu Liang-yen’s Poetry under the Concept of “Movement-poem.”). National Cheng Kung University, 2010. 沿著虛線的細節──珍．康萍《凶線第六感》的「細節語言」 (“To Find Myself in a Dark Wood: On the Close-up Details in Jane Campion’s In The Cut”). Film Appreciation Academic Journal vii 140 (July-Sep. 2009), pp. 153-164. 遷徙，從鹿城到都蘭──《月光下，我記得》改編李昂小說的空間／地方轉移 (“Travel from Lu-kang to Du-lan: The Displacement of Space/Place between The Moon Also Rises and ‘Xi-lan’”). Journal of Language and Literature Studies 16 (July 2009), pp. 135-168. 夢想傾斜：「運動-詩」的可能──以零雨、夏宇詩作為例 (“The Dreaming-Slope: A Study of Ling Yu and Xia Yu’s Poems under the Concept of ‘Movement-poem’”). Chung Wai Literary Quarterly 38.2 (June 2009), pp. 229-270. 給時間以「巫魔」──論朱天文〈巫時〉與蘇偉貞《魔術時刻》的「時間概念」 (“Magic-time: ‘The Concept of Time’ in Chu Tian-wen’s “Wushi” and Su Wei-chen’s Moshu shike”). Chinese Modern Literature 14 (Dec. 2008), pp. 165-185. SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS “Rethinking Multiculturalism in Taiwan: On Ping Lu’s East of the East and The Whirling Island.” “Destabilizing Empires from the Margin: Taiwan Studies in Reflection.” North American Taiwan Studies Association 2019 Annual Conference, Seattle: U of Washington, May 16-18, 2019. “Sinophone as a Geopolitical Marker: Conjunctive Approach of Cultural Geography and Settler Colonial Criticism in Taiwan Cinema.” UCLA Asia Pacific Center Taiwan Studies Conference, “Sinophone Studies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Critical Reflections,” U of California, Los Angeles, April 12-13, 2019. “Rewriting the Founding Legend: Examining the Images of Koxinga in Taiwan Literature through the Lens of Settler Colonial Criticism.” The 229th Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, IL, March 15-18, 2019. “Deconstructing Settler Colonial Cartography in Taiwan Cinema.” The Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania, July 5-7, 2018. “Encounters at the Crossroads: Indigeneity, Alternative Media Praxis, and Taiwan’s Cultural Production.” “Beyond an Island: Taiwan in Comparative Perspective.” North American Taiwan Studies Association 2018 Annual Conference, Austin: U of Texas at Austin,