Taiwan Insight–IJTS Special Issue on ‘IJTS Open Access Awards’ 

Written by Dr Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley. 

Image credit: Startup Business People Working on Laptop Copy Space by Rawpixel Ltd. / Wikimedia, license: CC BY 2.0.

The International Journal of Taiwan Studies (IJTS) launched its annual Open Access (OA) Awards in 2022. Each year, an invited group of specialists from various disciplines and regional associations retrospectively review and nominate what they consider the most significant research articles published in a selected volume of the IJTS. The article in each issue that receives the highest number of votes is named the award winner. The journal then purchases the license to grant open-access status to the selected articles—one per issue and two per volume. 

The IJTS OA Awards is a vital initiative, expanding access to high-quality Taiwan-focused research and allowing a wider readership to engage with important scholarship. Through this effort, we hope Taiwan-focused research will receive greater recognition from both scholars and the general public, as it deserves. 

So far, six articles have been recognised with the IJTS OA Award. In this Taiwan Insight–IJTS Special Issue, we are pleased to showcase these outstanding works: 

• Scott Simon (2018), ‘Ontologies of Taiwan studies, Indigenous studies, and anthropology’, IJTS 1(1): 11–35 

• Evan N. Dawley (2018), ‘Finding meaning in time and space: Periodization and Taiwanese-centric history’, IJTS 1(2): 245–272 

• Andrew D. Morris (2019), ‘“Praising Righteous Fan”: PLA Air Force commander Fan Yuanyan’s 1977 defection to Taiwan’, IJTS 2(1): 57–84 

• Thung-Hong Lin and Bowei Hu (2019), ‘Subcontractors’ dilemma: The expansion of Taiwanese firms 2002–2015’, IJTS 2(2): 199–229 

• Carla Figueira (2020), ‘Indigenous peoples as non-state diplomatic actors in the public/cultural diplomacy of Taiwan: A case study of Dispossessions: Performative encounter(s) of Taiwanese Indigenous contemporary art’, IJTS 3(1): 62–92 

• Scott Simon (2020), ‘Yearning for recognition: Indigenous Formosans and the limits of Indigeneity’, IJTS 3(2): 191–216 

Notably, Scott Simon is the only two-time award winner. His 2018 article was part of the special issue, ‘The State of the Field of Taiwan Studies’, guest edited by Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao and Dafydd Fell. The article critically examines the foundations of Taiwan studies through the lens of Indigenous studies. Reflexive and deeply analytical, it highlights how Taiwan’s indigenisation has fuelled the growth of Indigenous research while also creating tensions. The article underscores the interplay between academic research and rights activism, demonstrating how they can mutually reinforce one another. It challenges conventional frameworks in Taiwan studies—such as early efforts to use Taiwan to study China and later attempts to align Indigenous studies with Taiwanese nationalism. Simon argues that centring Indigenous perspectives will not only reshape Taiwan studies but also transform the methodologies of anthropology. True to his observations, in the years since, we have witnessed the rapid expansion of Indigenous studies within Taiwan studies, leading to greater diversity and depth in research on Taiwan and Indigeneity. 

Simon’s 2020 article explores the meaning of ‘Indigeneity’ within Seediq and Truku communities. This article makes a significant contribution to the study of Indigenous studies broadly and Taiwanese Indigenous studies specifically. Based on extensive grassroots ethnographic research, it examines why the majority of Indigenous peoples in Taiwan support the KMT and even reunification with mainland China despite the PRC’s history of cultural and physical genocide policies against minority groups. Additionally, it critiques Indigenous rights discourse, arguing that it serves as a neoliberal governance tool that primarily benefits a small elite while failing to address the everyday concerns of most Indigenous communities. The article also highlights the inherent limitations of Indigenous sovereignty, which alienate many Indigenous individuals. With its deep empirical research, originality, and sharp insights, this work stands out as a highly valuable and thought-provoking analysis. 

Dawley’s article (2018) re-examines Taiwan’s history by prioritising the peoples who lived, migrated to, and interacted with each other on the island of Taiwan. Commentators have praised Dawley’s comprehensive review of the literature and constructive theoretical framework by shifting focus from state to people, thereby placing greater emphasis on social and cultural history instead of politics. This approach is innovative as it not only views Taiwan’s history away from a China-centric and top-down perspective but also represents a decolonised practice in the study of history and historiography. For this reason, while the subject of the article sits squarely in Taiwan studies, the theoretical approach has applications well beyond Taiwan studies. 

Morris’s (2019) article analyses the 1977 defection of PLA Air Force pilot Fan Yuanyan from Fujian to Taiwan, contextualising the event within Taiwan’s history, the Cold War, and the U.S. recognition shift toward the PRC. The article explores media coverage of the defection and its implications for Taiwan’s contested international status. While the subject is historical, its relevance persists. Under Chiang Kai-shek’s regime, elite mainlanders viewed themselves as leaders of ‘Free China’ and welcomed Fan ‘home’. Today, mainlanders are a minority in democratic Taiwan, yet tensions surrounding their concept of ‘home’ continue to influence party politics and electoral dynamics. 

Lin and Hu’s (2019) article challenges the widespread belief that Taiwan’s economy is dominated by SMEs, instead exploring the expansion of leading companies into large enterprises. Grounded in empirical research, the study highlights a key paradox: while Taiwan’s cultural and political identity is increasingly distancing itself from China, the subcontracting model and reliance on cheap labour have deepened Taiwan’s economic ties with China. Comparisons between Foxconn and Samsung (which once operated as an Intel subcontractor) provide insight into Taiwan’s complex political and policy landscape. The article also examines how the authority’s historical scepticism toward local Taiwanese businesses hindered government support for their transition from subcontractors to innovators and global leaders. 

Figueira’s (2020) article, part of the topical section on ‘Taiwan, Public Diplomacy, and the World Health Assembly’ guest edited by Gary Rawnsley, is the third OA award-winning study focusing on Indigeneity. It has been widely praised for its rigorous combination of secondary scholarship and in-depth ethnographic research, including participant observation, interviews, and social media analysis. It provides a compelling and insightful examination of the role of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples as non-state diplomatic actors. The author integrates theoretical frameworks on diplomacy, identity, and cultural policy with a case study of the Dispossessions exhibition. The article raises critical questions about Indigenous identity, representation, and self-determination in Taiwan’s domestic and international relations. As editor of the IJTS, I particularly appreciate the author’s detailed exploration of diplomatic methods, references, and frameworks, which further strengthen the argument and enrich the analysis of the exhibition. 

We hope you will enjoy this Taiwan Insight–IJTS Special Issue. We also hope that the IJTS OA award-winning articles may enrich your understanding of Taiwan and benefit your research. 

Dr Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley is a Research Associate at the Centre of Taiwan Studies, SOAS University of London and a Non-resident Research Fellow at the Taiwan Research Hub, University of Nottingham. She is also the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Taiwan Studies. She has published widely in both English and Chinese on cinema, media and democratisation in Taiwan.  

This article was published as part of a special issue on ‘IJTS Open Access Awards‘.