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Centre of Taiwan Studies

Centre of Taiwan Studies Seminars and Events

The SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies has become one of the most important centres for Taiwan Studies academic events in the world.

During term time it holds regular public seminars, in which scholars working on Taiwan present their research to the wider UK Taiwan studies community.

It also manages the annual European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) conference, which is held in a different European city each year. The EATS conference has already become the most important date in the European Taiwan studies calendar.

In addition, it hosts at least one international Taiwan Studies conference every two years. These tend to be collaborative projects with other Taiwan or East Asian institutes and are designed with the aim of producing a book or journal special edition publication.

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2012

February

01/02/12
  • Voices of the Grave: Digital Necrogeography of Treaty Port Cemeteries in Taiwan
  • Niki Alsford (SOAS)

  • Necrogeography describes the spatial and cultural dimensions of mortuary landscapes. This proposed study would generate a database that could be linked to a Geographic Information System (GIS) and allow spatial analysis on the life of the nineteenth century foreign community and their families living with the vicinity of the treaty ports in Taiwan. Furthermore, the metadata would give archival information into the life span and mortality rates among foreign residents within Taiwan.

08/02/12
22/02/12
  • Citizens from Outside: Immigrant Women's Exercising Voting Rights in the Private and Public Spheres in Taiwan
  • Isabelle Cheng (SOAS)

  • This study examines how immigrant women in Taiwan exercise their citizenship in the private and public domain. It is argued that immigrant women used their ballot as the ‘weapon of the weak’ in the private family domain. In the public sphere, they are targets for mobilisation by political parties and individual politicians. Some of them were thus aspired to independently found and manage their autonomous self-help organisations.

29/02/12
  • National Identity and Election Campaigning in Hong Kong and Taiwan
  • Dr. Malte Kaeding (Surrey)

  • The study investigates how national and local identities are manipulated by political parties in Taiwan and Hong Kong in political marketing during election campaigns. It analyses the construction of these identities along a civic versus ethno-cultural and indigenous versus Chinese identity spectrum and tracks changes and movements over time. The study questions prevailing assumptions of parties’ identity rhetoric. 

March

07/03/12
  • The Passions of Taishangs in China: Business v.s. Politics
  • Dr Chun-yi Lee (Nottingham)

  • This study aims to analyse Taishangs’ political attitude and/or their political anticipation across the Strait. It is contended that while a majority of them do not have a strong political identity, they have built strong connections with local Chinese officials to serve their investment interests and have assimilated themselves into the Chinese society.

14/03/12
  • There's Something About Being Small: Taiwan's Soft Power and Public Diplomacy
  • Prof. Gary D. Rawnsley (Leeds)

  • This presentation is based on current research on the soft power capital and public diplomacy strategy of Taiwan.  The premise of the research is that Taiwan’s international status and the absence of formal diplomatic recognition by major powers are a serious constraint on Taiwan’s ability engage in meaningful outreach with the global community. It suggests that Taiwan’s current strategy is not capitalising on the island’s soft power strengths.

21/03/12
24/03/12
  • Screening of Award-Winning Documentary "Hand in Hand"
  • Centre of Taiwan Studies, SOAS

  • This year marks the 65th anniversary of the 228 incident, an important historical event in contemporary Taiwan. The Centre of Taiwan Studies, SOAS, is scheduled to screen a related award-winning documentary, “Hand in Hand,” at 2pm on 24th March (Saturday). 

July

09/07/12
  • Sixth SOAS Taiwan Studies Postgraduate Summer School
  • Josephine Chuen-juei Ho & Karl Ning (National Central University), Lilian Lih-rong Wang (NTU & Oxford), Fan Yun (NTU & SOAS) & Ann Heylen (NTNU)

  • Sixth SOAS Taiwan Studies Postgraduate Summer School is scheduled to be held from 9 July to 11 July 2012. Speakers will address the following themes in the three-day event, including Women's NGOs, queer politics, gender-based violence, social movements and Taiwan's democratic transition, Colonial Taiwan, and research methods. Graduate training seminars in Taiwan Studies as well as a documentary screening will be held as part of the programme.

September

07/09/12

October

31/10/12
  • Biobanking and the Production of Biovalue: Law, Market, Norms and Public Policy
  • Dr. Chih-hsing Ho (LSE)

  • This research uses recent developments of a longitudinal population-based research resource in Taiwan as a specific instance to analyse the delicate entanglement between politics, capital and life sciences. It explores the political and economic aspects of the biobanks that are embedded in the broader global bio-economies.

November

14/11/12
  • Taiwan and the Middle East: Cross-Strait Relations, Energy Security and Globalisation
  • Makio Yamada (Oxford University)

  • This research project examines Saudi-Taiwanese relationship since the foundation of both states in three time periods: pre-1971, 1971-1990, and post-1990, analysing how critical events such as the Second World War, the Bandung Conference, the US/UN shift over China, and the Gulf Wars have affected the relationship, and where it heads to today.

21/11/12
28/11/12
  • High Tech Europe and the Formosan Civilization Wars circa 1860-1900. A Study in Global Connectivity
  • Prof. Ian Inkster (Nottingham Trent University)

  • This paper focuses upon Taiwanese history as an artifact of global history in the late 19th century by looking at the Western impact upon eastern Taiwan through the medium of high-tech advancement. Specifically, it looks at the manner in which high-tech developments spreading out from Birmingham, UK from the 1860s and then encompassing major innovation programs throughout the western world, directly impacted upon the indigenous peoples of eastern Taiwan.

December

12/12/12