Taiwan is too often reduced to a geopolitical abstraction, but this essay reads the island as a body — one that carries the trauma of colonisation, the 228 massacre, and the White Terror in its very flesh. Through memorials, indigenous counter-mapping, and the Mazu pilgrimage, Taiwan heals by inscribing its wounds back onto the map: re-membering, in the flesh, as another name for healing
Written by Jeremy Chang. This article explores the intersection of dialogic education and Taiwan’s vibrant yet fragile democracy. By framing Taiwan as a “contested dialogic space,” the author demonstrates how democratic life—through movements like the Sunflower protest and civic tech initiatives like g0v—functions as a form of public pedagogy. The author argues that dialogue is not merely a classroom technique, but an essential, labor-intensive democratic practice required to sustain a pluralistic society.
Written by Michel Lee. This article explores “Ki cacepeliw,” a three-year collaborative project between Sweden’s National Museums of World Culture, the National Taiwan Museum, and the Southern Paiwan community of Shizi Township. By centring on the century-old Nakahara collection at Stockholm’s Museum of Ethnography, the initiative embraces shared stewardship to reconnect descendants with their heritage. Culminating in a landmark 2025–2026 homecoming exhibition, the collaboration has breathed new life into Paiwan cultural identity, inspiring local artisans to revive and recreate long-lost traditional crafts and instruments.
Written by ChuChun Yu and Tiffany Jan. This article shares how the Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation advances the thinking from peacebuilding in Taiwan amid rising geopolitical tension. Reframing peace highlights dialogue, education, and grassroots initiatives as practical tools. Peace emerges not as an abstraction but as an everyday civic practice sustaining resilience, empathy, and democratic life.
Written by Christopher Joby. Taiwan’s layered history of migration and colonisation produced rich linguistic diversity but also language suppression. Since democratisation, policies and activism have supported revitalisation efforts. The Siraya case highlights how historical research, grassroots movements, and recent legal recognition work together to restore endangered languages, identities and cultural visibility within a pluralistic society.
Written by Nancy Guy. Garbage, or rather, thoughts of garbage, are part of daily life in Taiwan. This is illustrated in the practices of individuals and households as they manage the material byproducts of everyday living. It is also reflected in all manner of creative practice. This post introduces the music of garbage trucks, the ‘Maiden’s Prayer’, not only on the music, but to social context with the music and Taiwan’s ‘throwing garbage’ culture.
