DOCSLIB.ORG

Ethnic Relations and Diaspora Identity: an Analytical Framework

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ethnic Relations and Diaspora Identity: an Analytical Framework National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Oîtawa ON KI A ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Yom fi& Votre référence Our 6& Notre réfdrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfoxm, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels rnay be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract This study is about why and how Taiwanese immigrants construct their cultural identie through public festivals within Canadian multicultural Society. The study stems from intrigue with prevailing practices in art education, both those characterizing Chinese as a homogeneous ethnic group and those viewing Chinese culture as a static tradition. Analyzing cultural representation organized by the Taiwanese comrnunity, 1 argue that ethnic cultural festivals are not only a site where immigrants inquire into cultural identity, but &O a creative response to the receiving society's social context. This study does not ask what Taiwanese culture is, but how it is constructed in Canada. The Taiwanese studied are immigrants who came with a colonial history and a particular political experience. Two of their cultural festivals demonstrate how the selectivity of cultural production reveals the immigrants' view of themselves, and how they wish to be seen. The Taiwanese Cultural Festival and the Lunar New Year Festival reflect identity construction achieved through the dynamics of choosing and narning cultural elements which are important to them. Interview data provided by the festivals' organizers and participants suggest that cultural identity is a creative response to the multicultural context. In order to juste their place in the Canadian mosaic, the Taiwanese emphasize their differences IÏom other Chinese descendants. Difference is a signifier for Taiwanese to select fiom a variety of ethnic markers and to interpret their colonial past. The Taiwanese Cultural Festival asserts Taiwanese particularity, congruent with a socio-political consciousness of the native land. The traditional Lunar New Year Festival is a cultural statement that reflects immigrant parents and children reaching out to other Canadians. Both festivals intend to promote cross-cultural understanding among the general public and the festivals' end products are a showcase of ethnic representations. For the immigrants themselves, 1find that education happens during the process of constructing the festivals, thereby interpreting cultural heritage through inquiring into their past. In a multicultural society, festivals are intensive sites raising questions about cultural identity and social place. Canada, largely composed of immigrants, is a place where ethnic groups fiorn different parts of the world coexist. It is a global village in miniature, where ethnic and cultural identities are becomuig a heated topic. The case of Taiwanese festivals in Canada demonstrates the selective process establishing cultural traditions and the complexities of identity formation. Particularity is emphasized in order to become a member of a multicultural society. The assertion of dserences allows post-colonial subjects to bd their past and search for means to live in the present. For Noah American multicuftural educators, this suggests a range of post-colonial issues and the need for an awareness arnongst educators of the evolving nature of cultural tradition at the nemis of Western cultural impact and immigration experiences. iii Table of Contents A~STRAC~................. ....-... ..... ........................................................................................................... II TABLEOF CONTENTS.............................................................................................. S.S..........................~ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................ .........VI DEDICATION.................................................................................................................................. VII CHAPlCER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... .............. 1 BACKGROUNDOF THE STUDY................................................................................................................ 4 The evolving dejïnition of culture .................................................................................................. 4 Multicultural art education pracrice ............................................................................................... 8 Multicultural art. .education and ethnic comunities ..................................................................... II Ethnic communrhes and cultural festivals ..................................................................................... 12 LEADINGQUESTIONS .......................................................................................................................... 14 THEPURPOSE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................... 19 RESEARCH M~THODS.......................................................................................................................... 20 THESIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY....................................................................................................... 21 THELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY........................................................................................................ 23 OVERVIEWOF THE STUDY................................................................................................................ 25 CHAPTER TWO: ETHNIC RELATIONS AND DIASPORA IDENTITY: AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK .................... ....................... .................................................................................... 27 THEORETICALPOSITIONS ON ETHNICRELATIONS ................................................................................ 28 Park, Blumer and Symbolic Inreractionism ................................................................................... 28 Edward Said. Orienralism. and Imperialism ..................... ... ..................................................... 31 Homi Bhaba and Border Theory .................................................................................................. 34 Diaspora identity and the politics of diflerence.................................................................. 37 IN THE CONTEMPORARYCIUNESE DIASPORA.................... ..... ....,., .................................... 41 CHAP'IXR mE:SOCIAL CONTE= OF TAIWANESE IMMIGRANTS IN VANCOUVER .. 47 Soao-POLITICALHISTORY OF TAIWAN.............................................................................................. -48 Phase 1: Taiwan as a land of Southeast Chinese immigrants ..................................................... 48 Phase 2: Taiwan as a Japunese colony (1895- I945)..................................................................... 50 Phase 3: Taiwan as a post-colonial society (i945-1949)............................................................... 51 Phase 4: Taiwan as a one-pany ruling srare (1945-1987)......................................................... 52 Phase 5: Taiwan as a posr-modern socieiy (1987-present).......................................................... 56 TAIWANESE~~~IGRANTS INVANCOUVER ........................................................................................... 60 The senior group ........................... ,.., .......................................................................................... 62 The intellectual exiles and new business immigrants..................................................................... 63 The young urban professional generation ..................................................................................... 66 THE TAIWANESE-CANADIANCULTURAL SOCIETY ........................................................................... 68 TCCS relation to local Chinese communities .................... ..... ................................................. 68 TCCS relation with the Taiwanese Nationalist governrnent... ..................................................... 71 Structure of the TCCS ............................................................................................................ 71 The Purpose of TCCS................................................................................................................... 72 S UMMARY .................................................................................................................................... -77 CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHODS TEROUGH A TAIWANESE LENS................ .., ....... 79 EXPERIENCEAS A STANDPOMT.......................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Formosa Betrayed, Widely Available to Those Concerned About the Future of That Beautiful and Embroiled Island
    FORMOSA BETRAYED George H. Kerr Copyright Preface to the New Edition Forward Acknowledgements Table of Contents First published in the United States 1965 by Houghton Mifflin, Boston. First published in Great Britain 1966 by Eyre & Spottiswoode (Publishers) Ltd 167 Fleet Street, London EC 4 (C) 1965 George H. Kerr Printed in Great Britain by John Dickens & Co Ltd, Northampton Second edition published in 1992 by Taiwan Publishing Co. 1182 N. Monte Vista Ave., Unit #18 Upland, CA 91786, U. S. A. Tel: 909-949-1003 Fax: 909-949-8833 E-mail: [email protected] (C) 1992 Taiwan Publishing Co. The Publication of this book is supported by C. Y. Fund and T. B. Fund of North America Taiwanese Professors' Association. Electronic version prepared by Leslie Ling-Chin Ruo E-mail: [email protected] http:/members.xoom.com/taiwan228/ November 1997 FOR MY FORMOSAN FRIENDS ... remembering the March Affair, 1947. The Heart of the Matter "Our experience in Formosa is most enlightening. The Administration of the former Governor Chen Yi has alienated the people from the Central Government. Many were forced to feel that conditions under autocratic rule [Japan's rule] were preferable. The Central Government lost a fine opportunity to indicate to the Chinese people and to the world at large its capability to provide honest and efficient administration. They cannot attribute their failure to the activities of the Communists or of dissident elements. The people anticipated sincerely and enthusiastically deliverance from the Japanese yoke. However, Chen Yi and his henchmen ruthlessly, corruptly, and avariciously imposed their regime upon a happy and amenable population.
    [Show full text]
  • Taiwan's 228 Incident
    THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION CENTER FOR NORTHEAST ASIAN POLICY STUDIES TAIWAN’S 228 INCIDENT: THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF FEBRUARY 28, 1947 A Joint Forum Hosted by the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies and the Formosan Association for Public Affairs The Brookings Institution Washington, DC February 22, 2007 Introduction Richard Bush, Senior Fellow and Director Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies The Brookings Institution Panel I: Looking Back Moderator Chen Wen-Yen, Executive Director Formosan Association for Publication Affairs The Importance of 228 for the Course of Taiwan’s History Steven Phillips, Associate Professor of History Towson University The Relevance of 228 for the Understanding of Present-Day Taiwan Peng Ming-Min, Former Advisor to the President Taiwan The Role of George Kerr, Author of Formosa Betrayed Richard Bush, Senior Fellow and Director, CNAPS The Brookings Institution Panel II: Moving Forward Moderator Richard Bush, Senior Fellow and Director, CNAPS The Brookings Institution Differing Perceptions of 228 from Taiwanese and American Perspectives Tsung-Kuang Lin, Professor of History Drake University Importance of 228 for Present-Day U.S. Policymaking Randy Schriver, Partner Armitage International Historical Memory and the Possibilities and Requirements for Reconciliation Neil Kritz, Associate Vice President, Rule of Law Program United States Institute of Peace PROCEEDINGS Panel I: Looking Back RICHARD BUSH: On behalf of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (CNAPS) and the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), it’s my great pleasure to welcome all of you here today for this special program. I particularly wish to thank Dr. Peng Ming-min for coming from Taiwan, Professor Lin Tsung-kuang for coming from Iowa; Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy
    SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 92 January, 1999 The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy by Christine Louise Lin Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair. The purpose of the series is to make available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Contributions in any of the major scholarly languages of the world, including Romanized Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM) and Japanese, are acceptable. In special circumstances, papers written in one of the Sinitic topolects (fangyan) may be considered for publication. Although the chief focus of Sino-Platonic Papers is on the intercultural relations of China with other peoples, challenging and creative studies on a wide variety of philological subjects will be entertained. This series is not the place for safe, sober, and stodgy presentations. Sino-Platonic Papers prefers lively work that, while taking reasonable risks to advance the field, capitalizes on brilliant new insights into the development of civilization. The only style-sheet we honor is that of consistency. Where possible, we prefer the usages of the Journal of Asian Studies. Sinographs (hanzi, also called tetragraphs [fangkuaizi]) and other unusual symbols should be kept to an absolute minimum. Sino-Platonic Papers emphasizes substance over form.
    [Show full text]
  • The History and Politics of Taiwan's February 28
    The History and Politics of Taiwan’s February 28 Incident, 1947- 2008 by Yen-Kuang Kuo BA, National Taiwan Univeristy, Taiwan, 1991 BA, University of Victoria, 2007 MA, University of Victoria, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History © Yen-Kuang Kuo, 2020 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee The History and Politics of Taiwan’s February 28 Incident, 1947- 2008 by Yen-Kuang Kuo BA, National Taiwan Univeristy, Taiwan, 1991 BA, University of Victoria, 2007 MA, University of Victoria, 2009 Supervisory Committee Dr. Zhongping Chen, Supervisor Department of History Dr. Gregory Blue, Departmental Member Department of History Dr. John Price, Departmental Member Department of History Dr. Andrew Marton, Outside Member Department of Pacific and Asian Studies iii Abstract Taiwan’s February 28 Incident happened in 1947 as a set of popular protests against the postwar policies of the Nationalist Party, and it then sparked militant actions and political struggles of Taiwanese but ended with military suppression and political persecution by the Nanjing government. The Nationalist Party first defined the Incident as a rebellion by pro-Japanese forces and communist saboteurs. As the enemy of the Nationalist Party in China’s Civil War (1946-1949), the Chinese Communist Party initially interpreted the Incident as a Taiwanese fight for political autonomy in the party’s wartime propaganda, and then reinterpreted the event as an anti-Nationalist uprising under its own leadership.
    [Show full text]
  • Mainland China's Policy Towards Reunification with Taiwan 1979
    ONE COUNTRY TWO SYSTEMS MAINLAND CHINA'S POLICY TOWARDS REUNIFICATION WITH TAIWAN 1979 - CHING-YUN YANG THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE PH.D. LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 1992 UMI Number: U062759 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U062759 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ( M G S g S R 7 0 1 ^ ABSTRACT This research examines mainland China's reunification policy towards Taiwan with a particular focus on the years of 1979-1987. Following the establishment of Sino-U.S. diplomatic relations in January 1979,Communist leaders in Beijing carried out a series of intensive campaigns to woo the Nationalists in Taiwan to accept peace talks and to re-unify Taiwan and mainland China under the formula of "One Country Two Systems". The formula implies that, after unification, two different systems will remain - Socialism on the mainland and Capitalism in Taiwan for at least 50 years. Although Beijing's reunification policy has been further developed and persistently propagated, its efforts, so far, have met with little success.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 INTRODUCTION Accounts of Taiwan and Its History Have Been
    INTRODUCTION Accounts of Taiwan and its history have been profoundly influenced by cultural and political ideologies, which have fluctuated radically over the past four centuries on the island. Small parts of Taiwan were ruled by the Dutch (1624-1662), Spanish (1626-1642), Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga)1 and his heirs (1662-1683), and a large part by Qing Dynasty China (1683-1895). Thereafter, the whole of the island was under Japanese control for half a century (1895-1945), and after World War II, it was taken over by the Republic of China (ROC), being governed for more than four decades by the authoritarian government of Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party,2 before democratization began in earnest in the late 1980s. Taiwan’s convoluted history and current troubled relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which claims Taiwan is “a renegade province” of the PRC, has complicated the world’s understanding of Taiwan. Many Western studies of Taiwan, primarily concerning its politics and economic development, have been conducted as an 1 Pinyin is employed in this dissertation as its Mandarin romanization system, though there are exceptions for names of places which have been officially transliterated differently, and for names of people who have been known to Western scholarship in different forms of romanization. In these cases, the more popular forms are used. All Chinese names are presented in the same order as they would appear in Chinese, surname first, given name last, unless the work is published in English, in which case the surname appears last.
    [Show full text]
  • Formosa Betrayed, Widely Available to Those Concerned About the Future of That Beautiful and Embroiled Island
    FORMOSA BETRAYED George H. Kerr Copyright Preface to the New Edition Forward Acknowledgements Table of Contents First published in the United States 1965 by Houghton Mifflin, Boston. First published in Great Britain 1966 by Eyre & Spottiswoode (Publishers) Ltd 167 Fleet Street, London EC 4 (C) 1965 George H. Kerr Printed in Great Britain by John Dickens & Co Ltd, Northampton Second edition published in 1992 by Taiwan Publishing Co. 1182 N. Monte Vista Ave., Unit #18 Upland, CA 91786, U. S. A. Tel: 909-949-1003 Fax: 909-949-8833 E-mail: [email protected] (C) 1992 Taiwan Publishing Co. The Publication of this book is supported by C. Y. Fund and T. B. Fund of North America Taiwanese Professors' Association. Electronic version prepared by Leslie Ling-Chin Ruo E-mail: [email protected] http:/members.xoom.com/taiwan228/ November 1997 FOR MY FORMOSAN FRIENDS ... remembering the March Affair, 1947. The Heart of the Matter "Our experience in Formosa is most enlightening. The Administration of the former Governor Chen Yi has alienated the people from the Central Government. Many were forced to feel that conditions under autocratic rule [Japan's rule] were preferable. The Central Government lost a fine opportunity to indicate to the Chinese people and to the world at large its capability to provide honest and efficient administration. They cannot attribute their failure to the activities of the Communists or of dissident elements. The people anticipated sincerely and enthusiastically deliverance from the Japanese yoke. However, Chen Yi and his henchmen ruthlessly, corruptly, and avariciously imposed their regime upon a happy and amenable population.
    [Show full text]
  • Transitional Justice in Taiwan: a Belated Reckoning with the White Terror
    Transitional Justice in Taiwan: A Belated Reckoning with the White Terror Thomas J. Shattuck All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Author: Thomas J. Shattuck Designed by: Natalia Kopytnik © 2019 by the Foreign Policy Research Institute November 2019 Cover Design by Natalia Kopytnik. Photo Sources: Top left to right to bottom Lordcolus/Wikimedia Commons, Wei-Te Wong/Flickr,yeowatzup/Flickr, Prince Roy/Flikcr, Fcuk1203/Wikimedia Commons, Outlookxp/Wikimedia Commons, Joe Lo/Wikimedia Commons, Bernard Gagnon/Wikimedia Commons, A16898/Wikimedia Commons, Chi Hung Lin/panoramio.com, Wei-Te Wong/Flickr, CEphoto/Uwe Aranas, Joe Lo/Flickr, Solomon203/Wikimedia Commons, Shoestring/Wikitravel, Thomas J. Shattuck, Vmenkov/Wikimedia Commons, Outlookxp/Wikimedia Commons, lienyuan lee/panoramio.com. Our Mission The Foreign Policy Research Institute is dedicated to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the foreign policy and national security challenges facing the United States. It seeks to educate the public, teach teachers, train students, and offer ideas to advance U.S. national interests based on a nonpartisan, geopolitical perspective that illuminates contemporary international affairs through the lens of history, geography, and culture. Offering Ideas In an increasingly polarized world, we pride ourselves on our tradition of nonpartisan scholarship. We count among our ranks over 100 affiliated scholars located throughout the nation and the world who appear regularly in national and international media, testify on Capitol Hill, and are consulted by U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Hegemonic Party Rule in Singapore and Taiwan
    ACCESS TO POWER: HEGEMONIC PARTY RULE IN SINGAPORE AND TAIWAN by Netina Clara Tan M.A., The University of Regina, 2004 M.A., The National University of Singapore, 2000 B.A., The National University of Singapore, 1992 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty Of Graduate Studies (Political Science) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2010 © Netina Clara Tan, 2010 ABSTRACT My dissertation investigates the sources of hegemonic party resilience. I ask why do some hegemonic party regimes persist, while others concede to multipartism? Building on party politics and electoral authoritarianism literature, I develop a mid-range theory based on the concepts of strategic coordination and institutionalization to explain why elites unite and oppositions fail to pose a credible threat. To demonstrate the utility of my explanation, I compare two similar hegemonic parties of different outcomes: the People’s Action Party (PAP) in Singapore and the Kuomintang Party (KMT) in Taiwan. I posit three factors to account for hegemonic party resilience. First, I contend that a hegemonic party that is adept in strategic coordination – by providing public goods and withdrawing political, civil liberties and media freedom – is more likely to win mass support and deter opposition coordination. Both the PAP and early KMT were high performing, strategic regimes that enjoyed growth and forestalled democratization. While the PAP remained the ruling party in Singapore, the KMT controlled the pace of liberalization during its long decade of transition, losing power after a party split. Second, I argue that the PAP is better than the KMT in keeping the ruling elites united because of its institutionalized leadership succession system.
    [Show full text]
  • Sojourn, Nostalgia, Return, and Identity Formation of Chinese Mainlanders in Taiwan, 1940S-2000S
    THE GREAT EXODUS: SOJOURN, NOSTALGIA, RETURN, AND IDENTITY FORMATION OF CHINESE MAINLANDERS IN TAIWAN, 1940S-2000S by MENG HSUAN YANG B.A., York University, 2003 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2005 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (History) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2012 © Meng Hsuan Yang, 2012 Abstract In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the world witnessed a massive wave of political migrants out of mainland China in the wake of the Nationalist debacle and the Chinese Communist victory. Approximately 900,000 to 1 million people followed Chiang Kai-shek’s regime across the sea to Taiwan. Most were low-ranking Nationalist soldiers and civil servants. There were also refugees from different walks of life, ordinary people drawn into the vortex of the Chinese civil war and ended up in Taiwan by sheer historical chance. The legacy of the great exodus continues to have important implications for Sino-American relations, as well as Taiwan’s deepening democracy and quest for national identity nowadays. Nonetheless, the crux of the story remains poorly understood because of the ways in which the history of the Chinese civil war and the history of post-war Taiwan are framed in the existing literature. The civil war migrants and their descendants are referred to as “mainlanders” or waishengren in Taiwan. This dissertation examines the civil war migrants (or first generation waishengren) from the moment they left mainland China to their eventual return decades later.
    [Show full text]
  • Decolonization and the Question of Exclusion in Taiwanese Nationalism Since 1945 Author: Wolfgang Gerhard Thiele
    Decolonization and the Question of Exclusion in Taiwanese Nationalism since 1945 Author: Wolfgang Gerhard Thiele Stable URL: http://www.globalhistories.com/index.php/GHSJ/article/view/106 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/GHSJ.2017.106 Source: Global Histories, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Apr. 2017), pp. 62–84 ISSN: 2366-780X Copyright © 2017 Wolfgang Gerhard Thiele License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Publisher information: ‘Global Histories: A Student Journal’ is an open-access bi-annual journal founded in 2015 by students of the M.A. program Global History at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. ‘Global Histories’ is published by an editorial board of Global History students in association with the Freie Universität Berlin. Freie Universität Berlin Global Histories: A Student Journal Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut Koserstraße 20 14195 Berlin Contact information: For more information, please consult our website www.globalhistories.com or contact the editor at: [email protected]. Decolonization and the Question of Exclusion in Taiwanese Nationalism since 1945 WOLFGANG THIELE Wolfgang Thiele was born into a working class family in Jena in Eastern Germany in 1990. He graduated from Humboldt University of Berlin in 2014 with a B.A. in Area Studies. He is cur- rently enrolled in the Global History M.A. program at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, while simultaneously working as an assistant at the Institute of Japan Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. He has spent two years studying at National Taiwan Uni- versity and the University of Tokyo. Analyzing Taiwanese nationalist writing since 1945 and focusing on writing pro- duced by exile Taiwanese in Japan, this article shows that the doctrine of Taiwanese nationalism was highly influenced by international decolonization discourses.
    [Show full text]
  • A STUDY of TAIWAN's NATIVIST LITERATURE by YU-LIN
    WRITING TAIWAN: A STUDY OF TAIWAN’S NATIVIST LITERATURE by YU-LIN LEE Under the Direction of Dezsö Benedek ABSTRACT Taiwan’s nativist literature, known as Taiwan hsiang-t’u literature, originated in the Japanese occupation when Taiwanese native authors strived to establish a “national” literature distinct from Japanese and Chinese literatures. Drawing on recent colonial/postcolonial theory, this project aims to investigate the process of writing in which the native tongue profoundly undermined the privileged status of the colonizer’s language and through which natives could articulate their colonial existence. It argues that the new conception of Taiwanese writing produced a new literature where the cultural “otherness” was traversed by the language and literature of the colonized. Concurrently, the practice of Taiwanese writing as a means of resistance to the writing of the colonizer constructed a new paradigm for Taiwanese “national” identity. The analysis is organized in three parts. The first part (chapters 1, 2, 3) raises central questions about the postcolonial studies of Taiwan in the context of colonialism. It provides a historical review of Taiwan’s colonized experiences. This historical review not only serves as an account of the rise of nativism in modern Taiwan, but it also constructs a different historical discourse from that rendered by the colonizers. The second part (chapters 4, 5, 6) presents the debates on nativist literature in modern Taiwan’s literary history in order to demonstrate how the nativist discourse was formatted and manipulated in a particular sociopolitical climate. The debates, based on the historical context, can be divided into three phases: 1) the Japanese occupation when natives were striving to legitimatize nativist literature; 2) the KMT rule when nativist discourse was primarily articulated as opposed to colonialism; and 3) the post-colonial period when nativist writing has tended to be recognized as a “national” literature.
    [Show full text]