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Taiwan’s status as an island surrounded by powerful nation states has forced upon it a history of permeable borders and an ever fluctuating cultural subjectivity. Originally inhabited by Austronesian tribal peoples, the island has over the centuries fallen under the political, economic, and cultural influences of the Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese occupiers. Globalization has further transformed and complicated Taiwan’s vistas of political reforms, cultural productions, and ethnic re-composition. Such gradual but radical transformation has, in countless ways, encouraged the nation-state identity and identification to vacillate between insularism and globalization. This collection is an example of the multitude of voices that speak for Taiwan. These selected essays, contributed by scholars from different countries (Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, UK, and USA), engage with the debates on Taiwan’s identity and nationhood while also attempting to step beyond the nationalistic frame. Whereas the openness to new ideas may alter our perspectives, this collection reminds us to embrace external influences without forgetting to celebrate our unbroken, unique historical legacy.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Voyage of the Sandeq Explorer: A Taiwanese Adventure in the Austronesian World by Terence Russell
Tribal Gothic: Supernatural Images of Resurrection and Insurrection in Taiwanese Aboriginal and New Zealand Maori Writing by Timothy Fox
Where Is Her(e): M?tissage as Indigenous Intervention in Taiwanese Liglav A-Wu’s Who Will Wear the Beautiful Garments I Weave? and Canadian Lee Maracle’s I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Bennett Yu-hsiang Fu
Risky Fiction: Betrayal and Romance in The Jing Affair by Chih-ming Wang
Heart of Madness: Identity Crisis and Cultural Conflicts in the Colonial World
by Paoi Hwang
Alienation, Marginality, and the Re-Imagination of Cultural Identity: The Impact of Colonialism and Shi Shuqing’s Defamiliarization of Taiwan and Hong Kong by Isaac Yue
Transcending Intellectual Boundaries: The Lyrical Phenomena of Fang Wenshan by Lim Lee Ching
The Vanishing Self: A Suggestion by John Wu, Jr.
Elliptical Taiwan or On Beauty by Jeremy Fernando
Notes on Contributors
Index
