Content provided by Wen Liu, Huay Chen-Wu, Chia-Chun Jennie Chung, Michelle Kuo, and Albert Wu; organized by I-Lin Liu.
Image credit: North American Taiwan Studies Association.
This article is a summary of the plenary session of the same name, coordinated by I-Lin Liu and Cheng-Ting Wu, at the 2023 North American Taiwan Studies Association Conference.
This event was the welcome reception at the 2023 North American Taiwan Studies Conference at the University of California, Irvine on June 22, featuring Huay Chen-Wu from the Department of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, Chia-Chun Jennie Chung of Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), Michelle Kuo from the International College of Innovation at National Chengchi University, and Albert Wu from Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. It served as a forum for reflection and inspiration. We invited speakers deeply engaged in advanced works of Taiwanese American nonfiction writing, research, and activism, with Wen Liu from the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, being the moderator. Before the event, Wen Liu had prepared three sets of questions—about the meaning(s) of Taiwanese American identity, community building, and the future of the Taiwanese American identity—for the four speakers to prepare. They were invited to share their reflections on studying and imagining Taiwanese American identities and experiences.
On Taiwanese American Identity
Taiwanese American is not a given status but a process of becoming. For first and second-generation Taiwanese Americans, the experience of living in a foreign land and becoming a member of an ethnic minority group often creates occasions for rethinking or reconceptualizing the meanings of being Taiwanese or Taiwanese American.
Chia-Chun’s Taiwanese American identity journey started with assimilation as a young immigrant, exemplified by her initial use of the English-friendly name “Jennie”. This evolved into a period of self-discovery and reflection, leading to self-identification and the reclamation of her original name, “Chia-Chun”. Similarly, Michelle experienced a process of “discovering” her connection with Taiwan and the Taiwanese American identity. Michelle discussed the evolution of her consciousness of Taiwanese American identity, contemplating whether her parents’ political background influenced the initial absence, cultural assimilation attitudes in the 90s, or her own interpretation of American history. As a working adult in the social justice field, she had encountered few Taiwanese people. Her consciousness shifted after she met Albert, who was PhD student in history, then, at age thirty, leading her to connect various aspects of her identity, such as migration, assimilation, sovereignty, solidarity, and global power struggles. She perceived the cycle of migration and assimilation in powerful countries resulting in a loss of cultural and political awareness. By choosing to live in Taiwan and participate in its civil society, she aimed to disrupt this cycle.
In contrast to Chia-Chun’s negotiation with her English and original names and Michelle’s exploration of Taiwanese American identity through reflecting on migration history, Huay’s exploration of Taiwanese American identity was rooted in language. Having grown up in upstate New York, her parents largely influenced her understanding of Taiwaneseness, and her experiences as a heritage speaker of Mandarin and Taiwanese shaped her feelings towards her language and identity.
The changing geopolitical conditions and the political situation in the United States also give the Taiwanese American and the Taiwanese identities a new meaning. Albert, who grew up in Taiwan and studied in the US, initially grappled with his position in Taiwanese American politics due to his deep commitment to Taiwanese sovereignty and a perceived distance from the process of integration into the American nation. However, as global threats like authoritarianism, the climate crisis, and labour exploitation began to impact both Taiwanese Americans and Taiwanese, Albert started to see the fight for Taiwanese Americanness and Taiwaneseness as a collective endeavour for broader inclusiveness and the defence of multi-ethnic democracy. This shift in perspective prompted Albert to reassess his stance on the Asian American struggle for inclusion within the American body politic.
Community Building
Being Taiwanese American also means having a community. However, building a Taiwanese American community that is more inclusive and egalitarian is not an easy task. It requires negotiating with the broader geopolitical and racial politics, the tension within the Taiwanese American community, and sometimes the friction between Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans.
As an activist on Taiwanese American issues in the US, Chia-Chun recognized the complexity of navigating her identity in different spaces. Choosing to highlight her Taiwanese roots in the American public sphere, Chia-Chun would often adjust her “Taiwanese/American ratio” in Taiwan-based spaces. Her activism experiences had made her realize the limitations of viewing Taiwanese Americanness as a monolithic framework due to the generational gap, hesitancy to embrace the identity without US citizenship, and political divides.
Also noticing how advocating for Taiwanese American issues cannot escape the influence of the larger geopolitical tension, Michelle found it perplexing that Sinophobia appeared to be the most effective way to attract support for Taiwan in mainstream America. She expressed concern about the lack of interest in stories that presented Taiwan as a complex, intricate place independent of the China-Taiwan conflict. As a writer, she desired to portray Taiwan on its own terms. Facing these difficulties in building solidarity within the Taiwanese American community and between different identity groups, Chia-Chun and Michelle find ways to solve these conundrums. In the past, Chia-Chun faced challenges while advocating for FAPA’s mission due to the lack of politically engaged Taiwanese students in Boston and their reluctance to permanently settle in the US. Her strategies evolved from trying to persuade individuals to care about issues directly advocated by FAPA to seeking out like-minded individuals and promoting change through personal example. This tactic became more prominent post-2014 Sunflower Movement.
Resonating with Chia-Chun’s connection with FAPA, while Michelle often felt disconnected from the Taiwanese American community when the focus was on tech or finance, she felt a sense of camaraderie in local Taiwanese NGO spaces that addressed concrete political issues, and she found common ground in the shared desire for Taiwan’s sovereignty, despite harbouring mixed feelings about the exclusivity that nation-state sovereignty might entail.
In addition to the strength and camaraderie that comes from community involvement, there are also potential conflicts between Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans. As a Taiwan-based scholar, Albert highlighted the uncomfortable fact that American degrees are considered more valuable in Taiwan, even when locally produced doctoral work is just as good, if not better, leading to some unspoken resentment about the hegemonic status of American degrees. However, despite the more favourable status of American degrees, Taiwanese Americans may not always enjoy a privileged position in Taiwan. As a newcomer to the field of Taiwanese Studies, Huay felt apprehensive about sharing her research because of potential criticism or backlash, although no such incidents had yet occurred. Although she had not yet shared her work in Taiwan-based spaces, Huay expressed concern about potential negative perceptions of heritage language speakers’ abilities among native speakers, which could pose challenges in presenting her research.
Similar questions about community building of Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans in the United States were also raised during the panel discussion. Specifically, the first set of questions considered how Taiwanese Americans could connect with Taiwan, especially taking into account Taiwan’s readiness to embrace an open and multicultural society like the United States. In response, Albert highlighted that the younger generation in Taiwan, particularly those in their twenties and thirties, were already open to the world and embraced multiculturalism. Michelle added to this point by noting that Taiwan actively promoted multilingualism, unlike countries like France and the United States. There were language policies and educational initiatives in place to support local and Indigenous languages.
Another question went beyond the building of the Taiwanese American community by focusing on solidarity with other Asian American communities. Chia-Chun shared her observation of the solidarity between Taiwanese Americans and the Tibetan community. This demonstrated the potential for Taiwanese Americans to build connections and alliances with other Asian American communities. She also noted that even progressives in the US tend to focus primarily on domestic issues, often neglecting to consider geopolitical factors.
On the Future of Taiwanese American Identity and Community
Fostering a Taiwanese American community does not necessarily lead to chauvinism. Instead, it is possible to think about an inclusive Taiwanese American identity that is compatible with a multicultural democracy project. In the past, Michelle voiced concerns about ethnic tribalism’s exclusiveness and encouraged redefining Taiwanese Americanness inclusively. She highlighted the potential for solidarity across racial and national lines through shared experiences like wrongful convictions. She argued for Taiwanese Americans to engage more with Asian revolutionary histories and voiced concerns about the divisive influence of pro-China Taiwan media on the diaspora. In response, she suggested diaspora involvement in Taiwan’s local civil defence as a potential solution.
Albert highlighted the tragedy of American conservatives coopting the pro-democracy rhetoric for empire-building, creating a challenge to advocate for inclusive democracy without being labelled a neo-con. He believed that Taiwan could offer lessons to the United States on how inclusive, democratic nation-building aligns with progressive values. Albert expressed the need for mutual learning and dialogue, emphasising the innovative and urgent work in Taiwan, such as environmental movements, religious coexistence, and democratic transparency, that could serve as lessons for the US and the world.
Chia-Chun emphasised the importance of inclusivity within the Taiwanese American community. This inclusivity should extend to non-Hokkien speakers and embrace the diversity of multi-racial Taiwanese Americans. Chia-Chun suggested moving away from a heavy emphasis on family history and instead focusing on shared values that unite the community. She acknowledged the complexity and ongoing evolution of Taiwanese Americanness, highlighting the need for more discussions like this to occur, as they played a vital role in shaping and defining the community’s identity.
Huay emphasised the need for native Mandarin speakers, particularly those from Taiwan, to acknowledge the talent of heritage language (HL) speakers and learners. She highlighted that HL learners had unique experiences that shaped their language abilities, distinct from those of elective bilinguals. She urged people to consider the circumstances that have influenced their language proficiency. Huay also emphasised that Taiwanese Americanness encompassed more than just language, including culture and mindset, emphasising the importance of recognizing these broader aspects of identity.
In conclusion, these discussions shed light on the multiple meanings and practices of the Taiwanese American identities, the various ways in which Taiwanese Americans can foster connections with Taiwan, and the possibilities for Taiwanese Americans to build solidarity with other Asian American communities and beyond. Speakers identified the challenges as well as possibilities for Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans to work together as a force for strengthening Taiwan’s connection with the world.
This article was published as part of a special issue on ‘NATSA : Repositioning Taiwan‘.
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