This page serves as the repository for the content discussed at past events. Please feel free to look through the individual publications listed here to find out how our events are conducted. For past participants of the events, this page may be useful in acquiring recapitulated texts of the specific discussions for recollection purposes.
Taiwanese Americans: Voices Through Arts
Join us for a thought-provoking virtual symposium that explores Taiwanese and Taiwanese American identities through the multidisciplinary lens of the arts. Featuring a special keynote address and three dynamic panels, this event will highlight how the arts foster critical and reflexive discourse on identity formation, preservation, and evolution within the Taiwanese American community.
Kicking off the symposium is a welcome keynote address by writer, speaker, and Taiwanese American community organizer Leona Chen, in which she will chart the formation of a distinctly Taiwanese American space, culture, and identity, as well as share her reflections from “growing up Taiwanese American” and her observations on its increasing legibility throughout the last decade. The first panel will examine documentary film as a powerful medium to tell the stories and experiences of Taiwan. The second focuses on the role of visual arts and music in expressing the intersections of Taiwanese, American, and diasporic identities. The final roundtable will dive into how Taiwanese American stories are being documented, articulated, and preserved for future generations. This symposium invites scholars, artists, students, and the public to reflect on how art transcends borders and how communities far and wide can engage with these vital stories.
Beyond Boba: Taiwan’s Culinary Culture in a Global Context
Are we what we eat? The cuisines that define us reflect rich and complex histories, identities, and narratives. Taiwan is no different, and its unique culinary identity encompasses decades of cultural and social influences from Indigenous groups, China, Japan, the United States, Southeast Asia, and much more.
On October 18th, 2024, TERP and the NRC hosted a lively book talk and guided food tasting with author and journalist Clarissa Wei, influential food writer Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax, and cultural scholar Eileen Chengyin Chow, that explored Taiwan’s culinary transformation and how it reflects broader themes of resilience, adaptation, and cultural blending. Central to the conversation was Clarissa Wei’s Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation (2023), a cookbook that dives deeply into the historical and cultural evolution of Taiwanese cuisine, which was a 2024 James Beard Award Nominee for Best International Cookbook, and named a Best Cookbook of 2023 by The New York Times, among numerous other outlets. Joining the discussion was renowned writer Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax, author of acclaimed cookbooks including Simple, Sumptuous, Sublime (2015) and Anthropologist in the Kitchen (2009), who also produces multimedia content including video recipes, and a new project that explores the unique language system within Chinese cuisine. The discussion was moderated by Professor Eileen Chengyin Chow, Co-Founder and Director of the Story Lab at Duke University, which provided a dynamic intellectual space for exploring the intersectionality of storytelling and expression.
Following the discussion, an informal food tasting of a handful of classic Taiwanese foods and snacks in partnership with local Taiwanese eateries and food venues was held..
Speakers:
Clarissa Wei, author, Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation
Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax, author
Moderator:
Eileen Chengyin Chow, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University
Diversity in Asian Studies Session 1
The Diversity in Asian Studies Event Series addressed the need for diverse perspectives in the field of Asian studies. This year’s series focuses on linguistic diversity, highlighting East Asian languages beyond Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese.
Professor Henning Klotter provided an overview of Taiwan’s language situation by taking stock of the languages that are currently spoken, their sociolinguistic status and their social and geographical distribution. Special attention was given to the phenomenon of language shift, i.e. the exclusive use of Mandarin and the discontinuation of regional language use among younger speakers. In the second part of the presentation, he looked at the visible manifestation of different languages in the linguistic landscape of Taipei city. Taking street name signs as an example, he showed that until today, official signage strictly reflects language norms and official standards of the post-1949 period and excludes non-standard linguistic alternatives such as Southern Min or Hakka. The profound ideological shift towards ‘nativisation’ that gathered momentum at the turn of the 21st century has left almost no visible traces on street signage.
Dr. Mirshad Ghalip’s talk delved into the language attitudes and ideologies of the Uyghur diaspora community in the US and their relationship with efforts to maintain their heritage language. Initially, a quantitative approach was employed via a survey to explore participants language attitudes. Subsequently, qualitative methods were used to delve deeper into these attitudes and ideologies. The study also considers the impact of the Chinese government’s genocidal policies since late 2016 on participants’ language attitudes and ideologies. Data was gathered from 76 participants, revealing a prevailing positive attitude towards the Uyghur language, culture, and identity in the US diaspora. The qualitative findings indicate that language ideology significantly influences heritage language maintenance efforts, particularly ideologies viewing the Uyghur language as integral to Uyghur identity and speaking it as a form of resistance against Chinese government oppression. Furthermore, the data suggests that the Chinese government’s policies are measurably affecting participants’ language attitudes and ideologies, further bolstering their positive outlook towards the Uyghur language.
Speakers:
Henning Klöter, Professor of Modern Chinese Languages, the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Dr. Mirshad Ghalip, recently graduated PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology, Indiana University.
Duty and Emotion: Polarities of Filial Identity in Contemporary Sinophone Culture
One of the great themes of modern Chinese and Sinophone culture is the emergence of new forms of individual identity that break free of the confines of what May Fourth intellectuals such as Lu Xun, Wu Yu, Chen Duxiu, Ba Jin, and others have imputed to filiality 孝, one of the cornerstones of traditional Chinese thought, ethics, and subject-formation. But filiality has not retired from the scene of intellectual discourse as quickly and easily as some had thought it would. The modern era is in one sense a battle between the time-honored obeisance to one’s elders on the one hand and individualism on the other.
In this presentation, Professor Lupke uses his refreshed attention on affect to explore the emotional terrain of filial relationships in contemporary Sinophone works. He will examine works by Huang Chunming, Bai Xianyong, Wang Wenxing, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and the contemporary US-based poet Zhang Er. At issue is the crucial role that overwrought emotions play in the filial dynamic in intergenerational relations that we see so much of in the Sinosphere and in Sinophone cultural production.
Speaker
Christopher Lupke, Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies, The University of Alberta.
Humanizing the Conflict Across the Taiwan Strait: Lessons From the Strait Talk Dialogue Movement
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait remain high as Beijing expresses its deepening commitment to reunification, Taiwan prepares for the upcoming presidential and legislative elections, and U.S.-China competition intensifies. A non-partisan civil society initiative established in 2005, Strait Talk regularly convenes conflict resolution dialogues for young civil society delegates from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the United States to examine the sources of these tensions. Strait Talk also enables its participants to develop action plans for resolution and build relationships. Having organized dialogues across six locations inside and outside the United States, Strait Talk has developed an alumni network of over 1,000 people working in government, business, academia, and civil society. This panel will outline the vision, history, and method of Strait Talk dialogues and highlight the experiences of Strait Talk participants from both sides of the Strait. The panel will also examine Strait Talk’s contribution to humanizing cross-Strait relations, in which high-level political discussions and security issues occupy much of the public’s attention. The panel concludes with findings from the two decades of action research on the shifting nature of the dialogue participants’ memories of cross-Strait relations.
Speaker
Ava Shen, Associate, Eurasia Group.
Adrienne Chih-fang Wu, Research Associate, Global Taiwan Institute.
Tatsushi (Tats) Arai (新井立志), Associate Professor, Kent State University
Moderator
Daqing Yang, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, GW.
Chinese Opera in Contemporary Taiwan: Wei Hai Min 魏海敏 and Her Personae
Join us for an extraordinary cultural event featuring Wei Hai Min, renowned Chinese Opera performer from Taiwan. Learn how Wei has carried on the timeless legacy of Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang and witness her modern interpretation of iconic figures, including Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Medea from the Greek tragedy Medea. Portraying nobility, shrewdness, and melancholy with grace and flair, Wei masterfully redefines Chinese Opera performance through her creation of unforgettable female characters East and West.
Wei Hai Min’s visit to North America is made possible with the support of the Asian Cultural Council. The event offers a unique opportunity for the participants to delve into the essence of Peking Opera. The audience will engage in a cross-cultural dialogue as Wei Hai Min shares her insights gained from a lifetime of dedication to both preserving traditions and pushing the boundaries of innovation in Peking Opera in and beyond the Sinophone world.
Speaker
Wei Hai Min, Peking Opera Actor
Moderator
Liana Chen, Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature; Co-Director, The Taiwan Education and Research Program (TERP), GW
A Coalescing Taiwanese American Identity and U.S.-Taiwan Relations
Does the coalescing of a Taiwanese American identity influence media attention and reporting on Taiwan issues in the United States? Does the Taiwanese American voice impact U.S.-Taiwan relations? To answer these questions, it is critical to understand what factors influence an individual to self-identify as Taiwanese American. Drawing upon survey responses of self-identified Taiwanese Americans, this presentation will summarize preliminary observations and themes that emerge to serve as a starting point for discussion.
Speaker
Christine Lin, Director of Training & Technical Assistance at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, UC Law San Francisco
Moderator
Jonathan Hsy, Professor of English; Affiliated Faculty, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, GW
The Tragedy of 228: Historical Truth and Transitional Justice in Taiwan
The 228 Incident – a violent suppression of anti-government protests on February 28, 1947 committed by the Nationalist government that ushered in decades of martial law on Taiwan known as the White Terror – is a significant event that intersects subjects such as transitional justice, social memory, and democratization issues. In a new book titled The Tragedy of 228: Historical Truth and Transitional Justice in Taiwan, the Memorial Foundation of 228 – established in 1995 by special legislation in Taiwan – attempts to set a new milestone in the study of the 228 Incident within international academic communities by investigating transitional justice issues as well as introducing and promoting Modern Taiwanese History to the world. The book explores various dimensions of the 228 Incident, including causes, international perspectives of the massacre, the use of military forces, the roles of local governments and intelligence agencies, and attitudes of past presidential administrations in Taiwan regarding transitional justice.
Speaker
Wen-Tang Shiu, Director, the Memorial Foundation of 228; Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History at Academia Sinica.
Chia-hao Chen, Associate Research Fellow, the Memorial Foundation of 228, Taiwan; Adjunct Assistant Professor, National Chengchi University.
Moderator
Daqing Yang, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, GW.
Sounding Settler Politics: The Institutionalization of Hakka Music in Postwar Taiwan
How did the discourse of Hakka identity and culture emerge in Taiwan from the second half of the 20th century? And how did Hakka music become typified and promoted alongside the battles over identity politics and cultural governance? This lecture addresses the changing social organization of Hakka music in postwar Taiwan, and analyzes the crystallization, objectification, systemization, and decentering of Hakka music discourse and performance.
Speaker:
Hsin-Wen Hsu, Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology, National Taiwan Normal University.
Moderator:
Liana Chen, Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature; Director, The Taiwan Education and Research Program (TERP), GW
New Books in Asian Studies: "Imperial Gateway"
This talk introduces “Imperial Gateway”, which explores the political, social, and economic significance of colonial Taiwan in the southern expansion of Japan’s empire from 1895 to the end of World War II. The book uncovers a half century of dynamic relations between Japan, Taiwan, China, and Western regional powers. Japanese officials in Taiwan did not simply take orders from Tokyo; rather, they often pursued their own expansionist ambitions in South China and Southeast Asia. When outright conquest was not possible, they promoted alternative strategies, including naturalizing resident Chinese as overseas Taiwanese subjects, extending colonial police networks, and deploying tens of thousands of Taiwanese to war. The Taiwanese—merchants, gangsters, policemen, interpreters, nurses, and soldiers—seized new opportunities for socioeconomic advancement that did not always align with Japan’s imperial interests. “Imperial Gateway” shows how Japanese officials and Taiwanese subjects transformed Taiwan into a regional gateway for expansion in an ever-shifting international order.
Speaker:
Seiji Shirane, Assistant Professor of Japanese History,The City College of New York (CUNY).
Moderator:
Daqing Yang, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, GW.
The Great Exodus from China: Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Modern Taiwan
The Great Exodus examines one of the least understood forced migrations in modern East Asia—the human exodus from China to Taiwan following the Nationalist collapse and Chinese Communist victory in 1949. Peeling back layers of Cold War ideological constructs on the subject, the book tells a very different story from conventional historiographies the Chinese civil war and Cold War Taiwan. Underscoring the displaced population’s trauma of living in exile and their poignant “homecomings” four decades later, Yang presents a multiple-event trajectory of repeated traumatization with the recurring search for home, belonging, and identity. By portraying the Chinese civil war exiles in Taiwan both as traumatized subjects of displacement and overbearing colonizers to the host populations, this thought-provoking work challenges the established notions of trauma, memory, diaspora, and reconciliation. It speaks to the importance of subject position, boundary-crossing empathic unsettlements, and ethical responsibility of researching, narrating, and representing historical trauma.
Speaker:
Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, Associate Professor of History, The University of Missouri
Moderator:
Liana Chen, Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature; Director, The Taiwan Education and Research Program (TERP), GW
