Written by Yi-Yu Lai.
Image credit: 20201115-移人的聲音：移民工劇場藝術節-014 by Lennon Ying-Dah Wong/flickr, license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED.
In the summer of 2019, I delivered a series of lectures on the topic of “Philippine cultures and society” at the Brilliant Time Bookstore, a prominent hub in New Taipei City for its focus on Southeast Asian issues. To attract a Taiwanese audience to the lectures, my initial strategy focused on emphasising the similarities between Taiwan and the Philippines. These similarities encompass various aspects such as cuisine cultures, minority groups, family politics, experiences with martial law, civil society engagement, and migrant workers.
It is worthwhile to mention that the lectures also drew the attention of individuals from the “new second generation,” which refers to young Taiwanese people whose parents are immigrants from China or Southeast Asian countries. In Taiwan, especially since the mid-2010s and the implementation of the New Southbound Policy (2016) by the Tsai administration, the new second generation has been increasingly seen as valuable assets for Taiwan to interact with neighbouring Southeast Asian countries due to their language skills and multicultural backgrounds. This is despite the fact that they have faced historical and ongoing discrimination due to their “otherness” in relation to mainstream Taiwanese society.
Growing Anxiety Following the Perception Shift in Taiwan
Kevin is of Filipino-Taiwanese descent and was an undergraduate student who resided in southern Taiwan during that period. Each weekend, he would commute by bus for nearly four hours to Taipei to attend my lectures. Although the opportunities seemed to be increasing and the environment appeared more welcoming for the new second generation in Taiwan, his anxiety intensified when faced with the pressure to speak his mother tongue and grasp Philippine-related information. Additionally, as his graduation neared, he wrestled with whether to pursue careers related to immigrant or Southeast Asian affairs. Kevin’s experiences shed light on the complex dilemmas the new second generation encounters as they navigate the evolving policies and perceptions of Southeast Asian immigrants in Taiwan. While individuals of Southeast Asian descent were historically pressured to hide their identity due to widespread discrimination, contemporary emphasis on multiculturalism and initiatives like the New Southbound Policy now push them to embrace and represent their heritage.
To some extent, this dilemma may be partially attributed to previous social conditions and educational initiatives in Taiwan. A large number of Southeast Asian descent have suffered from discrimination or felt the need to conceal their identity due to the stereotype that they or their parents have limited abilities to assimilate into mainstream society. For a long period, the conditions provide them with an unfriendly environment to explore and acquire knowledge connected to their Southeast Asian heritage.
While several programs and governmental initiatives regarding new immigrants–––such as the Taiwan New Resident Torch Program (2012) and the following Five-year Educational Plan for New Residents’ Children (2016)–––have been implemented to encourage intercultural talks, their primary objectives have typically been to maintain social integrity through the provision of care, parental education, and the establishment of support networks. Following the implementation of the New Southbound Policy, the discomfort of the second new generation may even transition from feeling “not Taiwanese enough” to feeling “not Southeast Asian enough.” Given the social expectation for them to bring prosperity from Southeast Asia to Taiwan, people anticipate they can easily utilise their intercultural competence in their respective Southeast Asian countries. However, this expectation may forcefully direct and restrict their options while disregarding their personal interests and objectives in life.
Regardless of the inclusion of seven Southeast Asian languages as elective courses in the present 12-Year Basic Education curriculum framework, such recognition does not effectively address the aforementioned problems faced by the new second generation. Due to limited social and intellectual resources in Taiwan, there is a lack of structured background knowledge available to help individuals comprehend the circumstances of Southeast Asia. In this regard, the responsibility for gaining this understanding seems to fall on Southeast Asian immigrants and their descendants.
Since my lectures in 2019, I’ve continued to engage with Kevin through social media over the past few years. While I’m not his only source of information, I value that he has persistently sought out insights on various aspects of the Philippines to deepen his understanding of his Filipino heritage and connect with his Filipino mother. In this light, the New Southbound Policy presents a double-edged sword for the new second generation in Taiwan. On one side, it provides an opportunity for the new second generation or even other Taiwanese folks to talk more about Southeast Asia. Individuals may also have the chance to reflect upon the past prejudice toward immigrants and their offspring in Taiwanese society. Conversely, if the new second generation lacks sufficient knowledge about their own cultural background, it may indiscernibly generate greater pressure for them. Even though it was due to the historical condition that their parents and themselves were unable to openly or easily discuss it, other people may not perceive the underlying cause of their anxiety at present.
Sameness and Difference After Forming the Alliance
Earlier this year, I met another Filipino-Taiwanese descent, Chia-Ching Tsou, when I had a short visit back to Taiwan. While she and her friends established a group named Taiwan Immigration Youth Alliance to advocate the rights of the new immigrants and the new second generation, she observed the complexities inside the group despite the fact that they all share the same new second-generation background.
Typically, Taiwanese people tend to view new immigrants and the new second generation as a single group, while those with a better understanding highlight differences based on their country of origin. As Tsou acquired more detailed knowledge about the Philippines and her genealogy, she increasingly recognised that the life experiences of the new second generation and their connections with their parents could vary due to the distinct countries involved. In addition, individuals with the same national heritage can nevertheless differ due to underlying factors such as gender, ethnicity, social class, and the respective processes of migration. This observation not only challenges her previous ideas about the identities of the new second generation but also exposes the insufficiency of Taiwan’s understanding of these immigrant groups. While Taiwan continues to classify new immigrants and the new second generation solely based on their country of origin, some other regions have already recognised and institutionalised the internal distinctions to better meet the needs of their immigrant population from Southeast Asia.
In Hawai’i, for instance, the Ilokano people have been highlighted as the largest Filipino group on the islands. In the 1970s, the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa started providing Ilokano language courses in addition to its existing Tagalog language courses. The aim was to specifically assist Ilokano descendants in learning their native language and supporting their elders who had to adjust their lives after being forced to leave their plantation jobs due to the decline of the plantation industry in Hawai’i. Subsequently, the University further institutionalised the language courses by establishing Pilipino and Ilokano Language and Culture programs. With this basis, the state government has been able to develop the respective curriculum for Filipino and Ilokano groups in primary and high schools in Hawai’i.
As Taiwan may lack adequate understanding and investigation into the demographic composition of the new immigrants and the new second generation, it is also crucial to acknowledge that these individuals in the diaspora are constantly forming a community with intricate connections to both their host and home countries.
Caroline Hau’s study on Chinese Filipinos, for example, indicates that the meaning of Chinese continues to evolve due to the economic, political, and cultural concerns that are connected to national, regional, and geopolitical interests, including Taiwan, China, the Philippines and beyond. The dynamic processes of inclusion and exclusion significantly influence the life experiences of Chinese Filipinos and their interactions with other Filipino folks. However, Taiwanese society rarely addresses such historical effects on the current Filipino population in Taiwan. In addition, it is also important to emphasise the complex relationship between migrant workers and immigrants from the Philippines in recent decades since scholars have already noted how both permanent and temporary Filipino migrations have blurred social class boundaries and led to new tensions and alliances among Filipinos in transnational contexts. Not to mention that the implementation of the New Southbound Policy has led to a rise in the number of Filipino students and visitors to Taiwan, which has further complicated the interactions among Filipino groups. These lessons all matter to Taiwan, since Taiwan asserts itself as an inclusive and diverse society.
The Veneer of Multiculturalism and the Entrapment of Biculturalism
In his 2020 article, Brian Hioe contends that by utilising a veneer of multiculturalism, the Tsai administration may not have adequately addressed pressing issues like racism in Taiwan. On the basis of this concern, this article aims to further highlight the issues with the lives of the new immigrants and the new second generation in Taiwan.
In the name of promoting multiculturalism in Taiwan, the new second generation is anticipated to utilise their intercultural ability to serve as a bridge between Taiwan and Southeast Asia. However, my encounters with the two Filipino Taiwanese demonstrate that this assumption has caused increased anxiety among the new second generation if they are unable to prove their competence. Moreover, this assumption has erased the internal disparities and the actual daily experiences of the individuals, making the historical injustice and their own agendas invisible. In this regard, embracing biculturalism in the veneer of multiculturalism to define the new second generation restricts us within the nationalist framework, which may merely become a serving tool to mediate the new second generation for social mobilisation toward strengthening ties with Southeast Asia.
Born and raised in Taiwan, Yi-Yu Lai has been studying Indigenous activisms and the cross-border relationships between Indigenous Taiwanese and the Indigenous peoples in the Cordillera of the Philippines since 2014. His works centre on Indigenous politics, political violence, and conflict resolutions. Lai is particularly interested in how political violence and activism affect Indigenous peoples’ ways of life and their interactions with the larger society. He finished his BA in Anthropology at the National Taiwan University, where he also completed his MA in Anthropology. At present, Lai is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and a research affiliate at the Cordillera Studies Center, University of the Philippines in Baguio. You can reach him at yiyulai@hawaii.edu.
This article was published as part of a special issue on ‘Unsettling Multiculturalism in Taiwan‘.
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