Written by Ting-Sian Liu and Yi-Ting Chung. This article reflects on the NATSA 2025 Closing Forum, honoring 30 years of community-building. Invited scholars offered critical feedback on NATSA’s history, its shift from politics toward decoloniality, queerness, and care, and the conference’s “otherwise” theme. The discussion emphasised activist-driven scholarship and collective labour as acts of care and solidarity for the future of Taiwan Studies.
Written by Yun-Pu Tu. This article reflects on the “Otherwise Literature: Against the Mainstream” panel, a collaboration between NATSA and the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, which explored how storytelling bridges cultures and challenges dominant narratives. Featuring writers and translators including Shawna Yang Ryan, Lya Shaffer Osborn, and Yung-ta Chien, the event highlighted the power of words and storytelling to connect communities and imagine Taiwan otherwise.
Written by Yi-Yu Lai. This article examines how a roundtable at the 2025 NATSA rethinks Taiwan through the lens of Island Studies. Drawing on case studies from Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Palau, Lanyu, and Batanes, it explores how islandness complicates questions of identity, scale, and connection within and beyond Taiwan.
Written by the NATSA 2025 Programme Committee. This article shares the NATSA 2025 opening forum, “Otherwise Relations between Taiwan and Southeast Asia.” Adopting an “otherwise,” the forum challenges nationalistic views by centring Taiwan’s ongoing entanglements with Indigenous solidarity, migration, gender economics, human rights, and more, urging a new approach to Taiwan Studies.
Taiwan Insight 