Comparatizing Taiwan

UCLA presents an international conference on Taiwan.

International Conference on Taiwan
Friday, January 21, 2011
Time to be announced.

Organizers: Shu-mei Shih (Asian Languages & Cultures, UCLA)  and Ping-hui Liao (Literature, UC San Diego)
Center for Chinese Studies, UCLA & Program in Taiwan Studies, UCSD
Formal paper presentations: Friday (whole day) and Saturday (half day), January 21-22, 2010, at UCLA
Workshops: Monday, January 24, 2010, at UCSD

Aimed at shifting the study of Taiwan beyond the conventional model of area studies, “Comparatizing Taiwan” takes “Taiwan” not as a discreet or separate object or area of study, but as a product and site of relations in terms of geography, culture, and politics. “Taiwan” as an island, a multiculture, and a nation acquires its changing identity in history through its geographical location vis-à-vis other islands and continents, oceanic crossings of indigenous and other cultures, and the geopolitical formations of empires and nations. The conference hopes to explore new avenues for Taiwan studies by using comparative approaches, not only to examine Taiwan’s many relationalities, material as well as symbolic, over a long historical and wide geographical span but also to view Taiwan in comparison with other islands, cultures, or nations that do not seem to be immediately related. “Comparatizing” here is a transitive verb that acts directly upon the word “Taiwan” in the conference title, so that “Taiwan” itself becomes an open term that acquires specific meaning in relation to that which it is compared. When Taiwan is viewed in terms of its relations within the crucial China-Japan-U.S. triangle, or situated in relation to Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, or even the seemingly remote Caribbean or Mediterranean, what new forms of understanding can be achieved? When Taiwan culture and society are compared to those of other nations and islands (especially other settler colonies), what new insights and interpretations might emerge? The formal part of the conference at UCLA hopes to explore these and other related questions, while the workshops at UCSD will explore pedagogical and other questions regarding the future of Taiwan studies outside Taiwan.

Panelists:

Organizers: Shih Shu-mei, UCLA
            Liao Ping-hui, UCSD

1. Chen Dung-sheng, Sociology, National Taiwan University

2. Robert Chi, ALC, UCLA

3. Chien Ying-ying, Comparative Literature, Fu-jen Catholic University

4. Margaret Hillenbrand, Oriental Studies, Oxford University

5. Faye Yuan Kleeman, ALC, U. of Colorado

6. Liou Liang-ya, Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University

7. Lu Mu-lin (fomer deputy minister, Ministry of Education, Taiwan), General Education, Asia University (Taiwan)

8. Frank Muyard, French Center for Research on Contemporary China / U. of Colorado

9. Karen Thornber, Comparative Literature, Harvard University

10. Tsu Jing, EALL, Yale University

11. Wang Horng-luen, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica

12. Wu Jieh-min, Sociology, National Tsing-hua University

13. Huang Yuting, UCLA

14. Wang Yin, UCSD

15. Chien-heng Henry Wu, UCLA