Taiwan’s Modern Identity Reimagined

This book examines the formation of Taiwan’s modern identity during the course of the twentieth century and its intersection with the “new” Taiwanese identity. Mapping the identity formation to the successive regimes of the twentieth century that are colonial, neocolonial, and nationalistic, this book traverses the spaces of history, culture, politics, and literature to arrive at the ontological performance of becoming Taiwanese. It argues that Taiwan’s modern identity bears the footprint of its successive hegemonies, shaped by the transition from one form of othering to another and from one form of becoming to another. By interpreting the salient events of the historical past that shaped the identity and explaining the transition to the present, the chapters of this book conclude that the ontologies of becoming Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese structure the architecture of Taiwan’s identity. Comprising invaluable reading material for students and scholars of Taiwan studies and East Asian history, this book will also be of special interest to scholars of cultural studies, colonialism and postcolonialism, identity theory, and international relations.