“Enlightening” Taiwan: Communicating Knowledge as/in Social Activism in the Post-Sunflower Era

Speakers: Chia-Yu Liang, Po-Han Lee, Bo-Yi Lee

This session will be held using Microsoft Teams

Following the success of the "‘Enlightening’ Taiwan: Communicating Knowledge as/in Social Activism in the Post-Sunflower Era" workshop at the University of Sussex, speakers will continue conversations with updated data and new reflections. Observing a new form of intellectual engagement pursuing to communicate expert and professional knowledge to the public, we aim to discuss such knowledge communication practices in relation to social activism in Taiwan as well as contemporary political struggles at a global level.

Topics

Chia-Yu Liang – "Eurocentrism, Sinocentrism, and Enlightenment: Taiwan’s Public Philosophy Movement in Global Intellectual History"

Po-Han Lee – "Activism and/or Business: Plain Law Movement in the Context of Knowledge Consumerism"

Bo-Yi Lee – "How Can A Leaderless Social Movement Sustain over Five Years? A Case Study into Formosa Salon"

Speaker Biographies

Chia-Yu Liang is a Doctoral Tutor and a member of the management committee of the Centre for Advanced International Theory (CAIT) in the Department of International Relations at the University of Sussex, where he is currently conducting his doctoral research on The Politics of the Return of Tianxia in Modern China. He has published in the journal Political Theology. Beyond academia, he has participated in the movement of ‘Public Understanding of Philosophy’ in Taiwan, and translated several books on Political Philosophy, including the first translation of Simone Weil’s work in Taiwan.

Po-Han Lee is a Doctoral Tutor in both Sociology and Law at the University of Sussex, where he obtained his PhD. He is now a Programme Commissioner of the North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) and an Advisory Committee Member of the UK-China Media and Cultural Studies Association (UCMeCSA). Beyond academia, he serves as the Chief Editor of Plain Law Movement in Taiwan and writes with different online platforms such as E-International Relations, 01 Philosophy, and so on.

Bo-Yi Lee is a PhD candidate at King’s Business School, and his research interests include job quality and institutionalism. Bo-Yi is an active member of Formosa Salon, a public forum discussing public issues related to Taiwan since initiated in 2014 in London. Before Bo-Yi started his doctoral study, he worked for the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan as one congressional assistant and co-founded a social enterprise in Taiwan.

Organiser: SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: bc18@soas.ac.uk