Aboriginal Museums and the Construction of a Taiwanese Identity

2021 ◽  
pp. 177-196
Keyword(s):  
Taiwanese Identity

Deepening a Sense of Being Taiwanese

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 366-390
Author(s):  
Shu-ling Yeh ◽  
Ying-Cheng Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
Taiwanese Identity ◽  
Japanese Colonial ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Core Part

Abstract This paper examines how the Amis, the largest indigenous community in Taiwan, draw on their Catholic faith to understand what it means to be Taiwanese. For over a century, the Amis were treated as marginalised citizens by the Japanese colonial government and the Han-Chinese Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo. Their predicament changed when political priorities shifted from cultural assimilation to multiculturalism after 1987. Successive Taiwanese governments since then have actively sought to incorporate indigenous culture as a core part of Taiwanese identity. Focusing on how the Amis intertwined their adopted Catholic notions and practices with pre-Christian ideas, social structure, and rituals, this paper demonstrates the ways in which the Amis carve out a place for themselves in wider Taiwanese society. It adds to ongoing discussions about the relationship between conversion and cultural transformation in Oceania by arguing that Catholicism empowered the Amis to deepen their sense of belonging to the island republic and, for the first time, assert themselves fully as Taiwanese.

scholarly journals Taiwanese Identity – Past Factors and Present Circumstances

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Pawel Sendyka
Keyword(s):  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Taiwanese Identity ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Taiwan Strait ◽  
White Terror ◽  
Nationalist Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
Do So

Abstract Taiwan is an island that off the coast of China. To say that Taiwan is a country is to offend the Communist People’s Republic of China which claims sovereignty over the island and markets it to the world as a “renegade province” which must be re-united with the mainland, by force, if necessary. For people who know very little about Taiwan and its big neighbour across the Taiwan Strait this may even sound convincing, but the truth is more complex. In 1949 the nationalist government (Kuomintang or KMT) having lost the Chinese Civil War retreated from the mainland; the communists have never ruled the island. The settling of the Republic of China’s government in Taiwan and the era of “White Terror” was another one in a series of historical events that were fundamental in forming the modern Taiwanese identity. Whatever the proponents of “one China” claim, the truth of the matter is that there is a shift in attitudes of the inhabitants of Taiwan in how they feel about themselves (Taiwanese, Chinese or both). This is a crucial fact that will have to be acknowledged in the cross-strait relations. The identity argument as such, is independent of any historical claims. And this Taiwanese identity has been evolving and will continue to do so, shaped by the past and the most recent events like the Hong Kong protests, the pandemic, politics and the military aggression and intimidation by the People’s Republic of China. This article will examine these factors in turn.

Sermons Among Mountains

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Pacey
Keyword(s):  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Taiwanese Identity ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Christian Influence

The figures covered in this volume were Buddhist elites—they were associated with major monastic institutions, publishing ventures, or the BAROC. This chapter discusses a range of Buddhist groups emerging in the 1960s, or thereafter, that cited an influence from Christianity, but which did not contribute to the discussion covered here. It also covers the transition to more positive forms of dialogue, which were paralleled by the decline of KMT power, the complexification of Taiwanese identity, and the slowed growth of Christianity. At the same time, the Christian influence on later groups is clear, pointing to the complex relationship Buddhism had with Christianity in Taiwan.

Diaries and Oral Histories as Ego-Documents in the Representations of the Taiwanese Nation

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-73
Author(s):  
Ann Heylen
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Thematic Issue ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
History Writing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Taiwanese Identity ◽  
Japanese Colonial ◽  
Research Questions

Abstract This article positions published personal or ego-documents—with a focus on diaries and oral histories—within the framework of Taiwan historical studies. It specifically deals with the complexities involved in defining the literary generic of historical narratives against the background of the transition of Taiwanese society from the Japanese colonial period onwards. In tandem with this thematic issue, it offers a close-up on how the collection and analysis of data in resonance with general changes in history writing over the past decades raises research questions about the nature of an inclusive Taiwanese identity.

Cleavage structure and the demise of a dominant party: The role of national identity in the fall of the KMT in Taiwan

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-101
Author(s):  
Nathan F Batto
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
Taiwanese Identity ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
Cleavage Line ◽  
Dominant Parties ◽  
Political Foundations ◽  
Cleavage Structure

The KMT’s electoral defeat in 2016 was not a case of a dominant party crashing to defeat due to mismanaging its factions or ineptly allocating state resources. This article illustrates a third path by which dominant parties can lose power. The KMT lost because the underlying cleavage structure slowly shifted and eroded the KMT’s political foundations over a quarter century. Indeed, the KMT had ceased to be a dominant party long before 2016; that election was merely a particularly dramatic step in what was actually a long decline. Taiwan has a single dominant political cleavage defined by national identity. Since the early 1990s, exclusive Taiwanese identity has gradually increased and eventually replaced both Taiwanese and Chinese identity as the majority disposition. As the cleavage line gradually shifted, the KMT tried to develop other appeals, but these were only successful as long as they did not directly clash with the dominant national identity cleavage.

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