Memories Of The Future National Identity Issues And The Search For A New Taiwan

The product of five years of North American Taiwan Studies Conferences, this book carefully analyzes the emergence of national feelings in Taiwan, its historical roots and its contemporary manifestations. It addresses questions central to the looming international issue of Taiwan/China. Part one considers the historical events that help to explain the emergence and development of a separatist, dissident discourse. The second part deals with the current issue of national identity transition in Taiwan. The final part places the national identity debate in a broader perspective by focusing on the larger issues of the maturation of the national identity question.

The product of five years of North American Taiwan Studies Conferences, this book carefully analyzes the emergence of national feelings in Taiwan, its historical roots and its contemporary manifestations. It addresses questions central to the looming international issue of Taiwan/China. Part one considers the historical events that help to explain the emergence and development of a separatist, dissident discourse. The second part deals with the current issue of national identity transition in Taiwan. The final part places the national identity debate in a broader perspective by focusing on the larger issues of the maturation of the national identity question.

Language Choice and Identity Politics in Taiwan brings new perspectives to--and invites comparative study within--the general study of language choice through its empirical focus on Chinese sociopolitical contexts and cultural practices.

Tanners of Taiwan is an ethnography of identity construction set in the leather-tanning communities of Southern Taiwan. Through life history analysis and ethnographic observation, Simon examines what it means to be Chinese - or alternatively Taiwanese - in contemporary Taiwan. Under forty years of martial law from 1947 to 1987, the Chinese Nationalist Party tried to create a Chinese identity in Taiwan through ideological campaigns that reached deep into families, schools and workplaces. They justified their rule through a development narrative that Chinese culture and good policy contributed to the prosperity of the Taiwan miracle. These ideological claims and cultural identities, however, have never been fully accepted in Southern Taiwan. This ethnography is the first to document from the ground level how those claims have been contested, and how a new Taiwanese identity has been constructed since democratization. Tanners of Taiwan provides more than a description of workplaces in Taiwan. Looking at the different perspectives of tanners, women managers, and workers, it demonstrates how cultural and other identities are constructed through dynamics of power and political economy. A small, affordable case studies book to be assigned with a core textbook in introductory anthropology courses. Shows how the US reader is connected to the seemingly distant lives of Taiwanese tanners. Simon follows hides from the US to tanneries in Taiwan, then elsewhere to be made into shoes and other leather goods, and then back to the consumer in the US - demonstrating concretely the notion of "global interconnectedness." Anchored in personal observation and ethnographic detail, the book makes very tangible such otherwise abstract notions as "national identity" and "global integration."

What has the end of the Cold War meant for East Asia, and for how its people understand their recent history? These thought-provoking essays explore a vigorously contested area in public culture, the wars of the modern era. All the major East Asian states have undergone a profound reassessment of their experiences from World War II to Vietnam. New and at times aggressive forms of nationalism in Japan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan have affected American security policy in the Pacific and posed a challenge to the post-communist world order. Japan has met fervent opposition to its premiers' visits to the Yasukuni shrine honoring the wartime dead. China has reclaimed a forgotten war history, such as the positive contributions of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. South Korea has embraced an interpretation of the Korean War that is hostile to the United States and sympathetic to its North Korean adversaries. This volume not only illuminates regional and global changes in East Asia today, but also underscores the need for rethinking the Cold War language that continues to inform U.S.-East Asian relations.

Co-authored by four high-profile International Relations scholars, this book investigates the implications of the global ascent of China on cross-Strait relations and the identity of Taiwan as a democratic state. Examining an array of factors that affect identity formation, the authors consider the influence of the rapid military and economic rise of China on Taiwan's identity. Their assessment offers valuable insights into which policies have the best chance of resulting in peaceful relations and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and builds a new theory of identity at elite and mass levels. It also possesses implications for the United States-led world order and today's most critical great power competition.

This book offers a substantive assessment of the first Tsai Ing-wen administration, investigating different policy fields and issues from 2016 to 2020, prior to Tsai’s election for a second term. Providing a balanced account of government performance under Tsai’s Ing-wen’s reign, chapters in this edited volume combine theory and extensive empirical data to highlight both achievements and shortfalls of her administration. Chapters range comprehensively from topics of the implementation of same-sex marriage, curriculum reform, ‘transitional justice’, industrial policy and pension reform, which have been celebrated by domestic Tsai Ing-wen supporters, but have also met with considerable opposition from within Taiwanese society. Externally, cross-strait relations, the New Southbound Policy and the triangular relationship with China and the USA, which embodied major challenges for Tsai’s first administration, are also analysed as key reference points throughout. Featuring contributions from twenty six internationally renowned Taiwan scholars, Taiwan During the First Administration of Tsai Ing-wen is an essential resource for students and scholars of Taiwanese politics and society, cross-strait relations and international relations.