Culture and society – Page 16

Cultural Sustainability as A Practice of Democracy

1 November 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

In the context of sustainable development, culture is seen as an important component of development, along with the economy, society and the environment, which are all interrelated. For the development of a country, it is necessary to go beyond the economic perspective and adopt a cultural approach, incorporating cultural policies as a key element of the development strategy. This also implies the re-democratisation of culture in all policies and actions. To actively participate in cultural activities and give their voices in determining development goals and means of development. The bottom-up approach, with the idea of people as the subject, will promote the shaping of public culture on the one hand and the practice of cultural democracy on the other.

TACPS Cultural Petition to the 2024 Presidential Election: The Sustainability of Culture and Democratic Governance in Taiwan

30 October 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

People are the mainstay of Taiwan’s culture, and “freedom” is at the centre of people’s thoughts and creations. Since the early 2000s, Taiwan has undergone a series of citizen-led cultural reforms, including a series of citizens’ cultural movements from 2000 to 2010 (such as the advocacy for community development and multicultural policies), the establishment of the Ministry of Culture in 2012, the National Cultural Conference in 2017/2022, and the White Paper on Cultural Policy in 2018. With the promotion of the Cultural Fundamental Act in 2019, Taiwan has, on the one hand, established the prototype of the country’s “cultural governance” system and civic and cultural awareness, and on the other hand, demonstrated its uniqueness in practising sustainable cultural democracy and participatory cultural governance among the global society.

Indigenous Post-Disaster Decision-Making Mechanisms and Negotiation Strategies of Traditional Women Leaders

20 October 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Valagas Gadeljeman; translated by Yu-Chen Chuang. Since Typhoon Morakot, the government and academia have not thoroughly explored why Indigenous knowledge is fading and why Indigenous adaptation is becoming more difficult for Indigenous communities. Why can’t Indigenous people have the same freedom and right to choose where their tribe lives as they once did? What policies and laws have limited their ability to move freely? In short, there’s a lack of Indigenous perspectives in Taiwan’s post-disaster recovery discussions, especially when it comes to the importance of ancestral traditional territories. In this article, I’ll discuss the traditional decision-making processes and negotiation strategies in Indigenous communities, with a focus on Paiwan women leaders’ insights.

Sustainable Traditional Knowledge: Land Ethics and Disaster Resilience in Cinsbu

18 October 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Bayis Atung; translated by Yu-Chen Chuang. In recent years, due to climate change, community members have begun to think more about how to minimise the impact of disasters before they occur. When engaging in farming, we have started to think and take action to incorporate traditional land use knowledge from the past. We continuously experiment and face challenges, ultimately returning to traditional land use and cultivation ethics. We have discovered that this approach can be used to adapt to and address climate change, as it helps Cinsbu adapt to the ever-changing challenges posed by disasters. In this article, I share our land ethics and explain how sustainable land use relates to disaster prevention. Even though the intensity of climate change has increased, the Tayal people have not given up on using the land. Instead, there have been even more changes in how we use the land.

Indigenous Disaster Justice: Reflecting on Typhoon Morakot Recovery

16 October 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Yi-Te Yu. In the past two decades, Taiwan has endured two major disasters: the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Both events resulted in immense loss of life and property. The Indigenous regions of Taiwan, in particular, have borne the enduring impact that is yet to see a complete recovery. Taking Typhoon Morakot in 2009 as an example, during its onslaught in Taiwan, it unleashed a record-breaking deluge of rain. This led to a large-scale landslide in Mt. Xiandu(獻肚) in Jiaxian District, Kaohsiung, burying the village Xiaolin beneath a deluge of soil and debris. Moreover, this catastrophe also inflicted the mountainous Indigenous communities in the central and southern regions of Taiwan, including Chiayi, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Taitung counties, with the onslaught of floods, landslides, and debris flows. In total, it resulted in 678 fatalities and 33 injuries.

Tracing Disaster Injustice: Indigenous Peoples’ Vulnerability and Resilience in Taiwan

13 October 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Yu-Chen Chuang. In August 2023, Typhoon Khanun swept across Taiwan, particularly impacting the mountainous regions of central Taiwan. The resultant severe floods and landslides caused significant damage to infrastructure and disrupted the livelihood of local residents. One of the most severely affected areas was Renai Township in Nantou County, which is home to several Indigenous communities. The damages caused by Typhoon Khanun demanded significant labour and financial resources from Indigenous communities to manage the lengthy post-disaster reconstruction. This special issue, titled ‘Indigenous Peoples and Disaster Justice,’ will feature contributions from scholars and practitioners deeply involved in Indigenous-centered disaster management in Taiwan. We hope to foster discussions about the past, present, and future of disaster management, with a particular focus on addressing colonial injustice.

Under The Radar: How Taiwan Compares to Sexism in the East

9 October 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Zoe Parrott. There is no doubt that, as three examples of major developed East Asian countries, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong are able to boast of countless laudable achievements. Furthermore, compared to other countries, all of these nations have impressive Human Development Indexes, ranking higher than the United States. However, there is one aspect of each of these nations that often flies under the radar – the infamous gender inequity these nations are characterised by. For concrete examples, look no further than DJSoda, who was sexually assaulted during her show in Osaka, Johnny Kitagawa, who, for decades, dangled “the price of stardom” as an explanation for his sexual abuse, and the four undergraduates who were sexually harassed and/or raped by their older 28-year-old peer at the Education University of Hong Kong. However, there seems to be one outlier among its peers – Taiwan, otherwise known as the Republic of China.

An Unconventional Networking Workshop: Self-care, Wellness and Community

2 October 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Yung-Ying Chang. In 2021, amid the global pandemic and the sheer transformation of lives that followed, the North American Taiwan Studies Association’s (NATSA) annual conference launched its first-ever mental health-centred networking session, “Networking? Or Working on Your Net: Care Companions & Love Objects for Mental Health.” The unconventional session invited participants to use the time during an academic conference to work on something that was not purely academic: participants shared their life setbacks and frustrations not only in academia as scholars but also in life as the various roles they have assumed in response to various expectations.

Indigenous Taiwan through Critical Lenses: Comparative and Place-Based Perspectives

29 September 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Yi-Yang Cheng, Ssu-Chieh Jessica Fan and Susan Hou. Centring on Indigeneity in Taiwan, the interdisciplinary roundtable “Indigenous Taiwan through Critical Lenses: Comparative and Place-Based Perspectives” conceptualized Taiwan as a grounding point for multiple geographical perspectives. Instead of positioning Taiwan as a boundary object between the East and the West, it prompted a fresh envisioning and repositioning of Taiwan as a liminal space of unbounded and interconnected possibilities. Put differently, the roundtable discussions explored alternative ways of positioning Taiwan in/and the world, including perspectives which might have previously been marginalized or eluded consideration.

Beyond Books: Taiwanese Stories in the World

27 September 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Ssu-Chieh Jessica Fan and Cheng-Ting Wu. In recent years, Taiwan literature has experienced a surge in visibility and recognition within the global cultural community. To explore the border-crossing potential of Taiwanese stories, the planning team of the NATSA 2023 conference organized a special event, creating a lively platform for discussing the circulation and reception of Taiwanese fiction and non-fiction works in the international book market and academia.

NATSA: Repositioning Taiwan

22 September 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Chee-Hann Wu. The North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) is a registered nonprofit organization and the largest scholarly association dedicated to Taiwan Studies in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1994 when Taiwan Studies became a booming field of research that attracted international attention during the 1990s, a period of rapid political, economic, social, and cultural change in Taiwan. The growing academic interest in Taiwan called for a regular and interdisciplinary academic forum. To establish such a forum, the North American Taiwan Studies Association’s constitution was drafted and ratified at the first annual conference at Yale University in June 1994.

Reflections on the Identity at Indigenous Popular Music Training Camp in Taiwan

20 September 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Kuing, Guo-Ting Lin. In recent years, there have been various Indigenous popular music creation and cultivation programmes in Taiwan. For example, the music training camp “Psiwali School” at the Pasiwali Music Festival in Taiwan with the purpose of discovering Indigenous musicians. Another example is the “MINETJUS Electronic Music Production” Programme, which is held by Dark Paradise Records (派樂黛唱片), an independent record label based in Taipei. This initiative blends electronic music and Indigenous culture to help younger musicians turn cultural marginality into unique cultural assets. Most training camps in Taiwan still rely on government support, aiming to strengthen the unique cultural identity of contemporary Indigenous youth and regard this as a catalyst for promoting ethnic diversity. This article examines the meaning of Taiwan’s Indigenous popular music creation and cultivation programmes.

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