Written by Aleksandrs Gross.
This article is based on interviews with Professor Niki J.P. Alsford.
Image credit: provided by the interviewee.
Prof. Niki J.P. Alsford is one of the most recognised voices in the field of Taiwan Studies in Europe today, but his journey into the field was neither planned nor straightforward. It was the result of a series of interests, each of which took him a little closer to Taiwan.
Niki’s undergraduate studies awakened an interest in the topic of ‘empty spaces’. After conducting some fieldwork in the Sahara, Niki joined his friends on a trip to Thailand for a year to reflect on the research difficulties his thesis was facing. He stumbled across a community of displaced ROC nationals in Thailand, which ultimately made his interests shift towards Taiwan, a place that combined his newfound interests in the interaction of identity and displacement, and empty spaces.
Initially, going to Taiwan to study Mandarin and learn more about the ROC was a way to better understand the community he came across in Thailand. Doing fieldwork in Thailand afterwards was the goal. However, during his time in Taiwan, Niki discovered new interests that once again changed his career plan.
After spending two years studying Mandarin, Niki enrolled in the Taiwan Studies master’s programme at Chengchi University. He remembers how crucial different communities – scholarly, official, and local – were to his intellectual formation. What struck him was how supportive and open – and therefore also accessible – people in Taiwan were.
Ordinary Taiwanese, ambassadors and prominent academics would all be extraordinarily forthcoming in helping Niki understand local customs and beliefs and in sharing their personal experiences and networks. This kind of access was invaluable for Niki’s intellectual development.
Taiwan is such an interesting place in the sense that within a space of a week, you could be at a dinner that is attended by ambassadors. And then the following day, you could be sitting in a pub talking to gangsters.
I don’t know anywhere else where you can access such a broad range of people so easily, without having to actively force those encounters. It often felt as though I was simply floating along a river—ending up in rooms and conversations I could never have planned.
One day, you’re being asked to give an impromptu talk on British–Taiwan relations in front of embassy staff; the next, you’re fishing for shrimp and chatting with local gangsters. It’s surreal when you think about it. And on top of that, many of the people whose books you’re reading are right there, shaping the field around you (..)
Remaining rooted in such communities has continued to form Niki’s career in significant ways. Whether it’s getting access to Taiwan’s Indigenous communities for fieldwork, crystallising his many Taiwan interests into a focused PhD, or setting up the Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific (ISAP), he emphasises the role that countless others have played each step of the way.
Having spent over two decades working in the field of Taiwan Studies, Niki concludes that this kind of accessibility and support characterises not just the experience of studying in Taiwan, but also the field of Taiwan Studies more broadly – in Europe as well. This distinguishes Taiwan Studies from other regional fields of study, be it Japan Studies, China Studies, or Korea Studies.
Taiwan Studies is quite a niche field, which means that those who work in it tend to know one another well. Annual conferences often feel like summer camps—you’re reconnecting with people you may not have seen for a year. Korean Studies, which I also work in, is very friendly but much larger. You tend to form smaller cliques within it. In Taiwan Studies, the clique is the whole field.
It’s not just the close-knit community that distinguishes the field. When it comes to a subject as niche as Taiwan, many scholars within the field share a certain kind of curiosity. Taiwan is in many ways an outlier region.
Part of what defines Taiwan Studies is Taiwan’s own positionality. Taiwan plays a crucial role geopolitically, socially, and economically, and that shapes which kinds of people are drawn to studying it.
There is something fundamentally different about Taiwan because it is not settled. It is disruptive—but not in a negative sense. Taiwan doesn’t follow convention, and that’s precisely what makes it interesting. It’s an island of difference. That disruption is healthy. It’s not ‘normal’, but that isn’t a criticism—it’s what defines Taiwan and makes it such a compelling object of study.
The fact that Taiwan is an outlier region is also becoming increasingly evident from the experience of many China scholars turning to Taiwan. There is much less knowledge-transfer between these two fields of study than many would expect:
It has become increasingly difficult to conduct research in many parts of China. As access narrows, Taiwan’s openness is drawing scholars who previously worked on China—although many discover that Taiwan is not simply a substitute. It is different, and that difference matters.
Moving Beyond Surface Impressions
Niki remains optimistic about the future of Taiwan Studies. He notes the global trend of more importance and hence funding going to STEM fields, and also the scepticism of the value of regional studies in an increasingly globalised world. But, in response, Niki asserts that “the more connected we are, the greater the need for cultural intelligence—knowledge that goes beyond surface familiarity.”
Niki here contrasts the notion of cultural competence with cultural intelligence. Cultural competence, in Taiwan’s case, relates to a fixed, mainstream understanding which conceives of the island as a geopolitical or regional abstraction. Accordingly, there exist ‘established narratives’ of Taiwan; becoming familiar with the island boils down to familiarising oneself with these narratives. It is an external and detached learning process – abstracted knowledge work that rarely questions how such narratives are formed or whose perspectives they privilege.
Cultural intelligence, by contrast, is grounded in reflexive practice and therefore views Taiwan as a complex social world. One becomes keenly aware of how one’s social, institutional, and educational position shapes what one notices, what access one has, and how one interprets what is seen. There is no one fixed or orthodox worldview of the island. Getting to know Taiwan turns into a deeply relational and mindfully critical process, where one never forgets how one’s positionality shapes one’s worldview of the island – this is a relational, self-aware process of learning.
Taiwan Studies has the potential to challenge oversimplified narratives of the island and invite those interested to look beyond current news cycles and general stereotypes and instead form a much more reflexive understanding.
Advice for Aspiring Taiwan Studies Scholars
When asked for advice for those starting out in the field, Niki comes back to the lessons he picked up in his own journey. First and foremost, given how uncertain an academic career in area studies is today, remaining open and saying yes to all opportunities is crucial.
This means that holding onto one narrow research interest may not necessarily serve an aspiring scholar best – it will prematurely limit the breadth of opportunity. Letting new interests emerge and research directions change is a sign of healthy intellectual development. Being determined to keep going in the face of such changes and career uncertainty is more important than a ‘perfect career plan’.
Niki also emphasises that reflexivity plays an indispensable role when it comes to finding one’s specialisation. Remaining curious of one’s surroundings on all levels, and taking notes of what one perceives is part of this process.
Always be aware of yourself in the journey. Learn to take good field notes—never go anywhere without a notebook. There’s no part of Taiwan that I go to without my scratch notes.
Don’t rush. Sit down. Listen—to the sounds, the smells, the different sensory landscapes. Then write it all down.
Niki still practices such reflexive listening:
Even now, I’m constantly writing. Every time I’m back in Taipei, I return to the same temple, Baoan gong in the Datong District. I speak to Mazu Po, I speak to Guanyin, and each time I learn something new.
Niki also integrates such a reflexive approach into his teaching. He lets students pick their own reading materials from a wider list of resources. A core part of his teaching is letting students reflect on how their personal journey intersects with Taiwan’s journey. There is no one fixed image of Taiwan. What Taiwan is for each student is for them to discover:
How Niki teaches Taiwan reflects his belief that each person’s journey into the field of Taiwan Studies needs to be a reflexive process. Each individual must reflect on how their personal journey intersects with Taiwan’s journey. In this process, there can be no fixed, externally imported image of Taiwan; each person must discover Taiwan for themselves.
For me, the key is to foster in students a much deeper familiarity with a culture. (..) If we imagine our life worlds as individual lines, then Taiwan is the meshwork formed where those lines intersect. I want students to locate their own line within that meshwork—to understand how their experiences and perspectives become entangled with Taiwan.
Such a journey of reflexive discovery characterises Niki’s own career path. In going from the deserts of the Sahara to Thailand and then to Taiwan, Niki followed a path that, rather than being planned, conventional and ‘safe’, was as much a personal journey as an academic one: always open, sensitive, and questioning, and therefore constantly evolving and deepening.
Aleksandrs Gross is a freelance journalist focusing on the grassroots development of Taiwanese identity. He is particularly interested in the development of Taiwanese civic society, especially social movements, and how younger generations of Taiwanese respond to the unique political, identity-related and economic challenges of Taiwan. Find more of his writing on New Bloom and his Substack Identity Island.
This article was published as part of a special issue on ‘Taiwan Studies Interviews: What can we learn?’.
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